Blog post by Jonathan Everett, Head of Policy at RSS
This post is intended to give RSS members an insight into how the announcements in the 2023 Autumn Statement might impact our community and how the Society intends to respond to the new developments.
The statement contained three main areas of interest for the RSS: inflation, AI and, lastly, the support for a new National Academy for the Mathematical Sciences (AcadMathSci).
Inflation
The RSS has long been campaigning for the introduction of a new measure of inflation – the household costs indices (HCIs) – to more accurately capture the impact of the cost of living on different types of household. In this context, we voiced our concern that the government was considering using October’s 12-month inflation rate (instead of September’s, as has been the case in the past) for up-rating. So, it was welcome to see that, in the end, the government used September’s 12-month rate.
The government has sought to present the Autumn statement as tax-cutting – largely because the main rate of national insurance contributions will be reduced from 12% to 10%. This, however, is not a plausible way to present the statement; rather than increasing with inflation, tax thresholds (the income at which people start paying tax) have been frozen at the same level. Freezing thresholds constitutes a tax rise – with more low-earners eligible to pay tax – so giving back a percentage of that rise is not a tax cut. Alongside other organisations, the RSS sees its role as helping to clarify the real-terms implications of such figures and so inform public debate.
If you are interested in our work on inflation – we will be holding a hybrid event at the Resolution Foundation on 12th December to discuss the new HCIs.
AI
The statement also contained a range of measures around AI. The government expressed a desire to increase the use of AI in the health service and wider public sector to improve productivity. We are supportive of this general direction, but it is very important that this is done transparently and that equality impact assessments are caried out and published. That is a point that we will continue to emphasise.
Another big announcement was the pledge of £500m for compute power. This is great news in principle, but it is important that a proper plan for using that compute is made. The details of this plan are vital – and we would like to be reassured that the government will involve the technical community here.
We further advocate for the UK becoming part of an international consortium that builds an open-source foundation model. The government also wants to allow SMEs to develop new foundation models – a new and interesting concept. But again, the devil will be in the detail. We would particularly hope to see a commitment to making these foundation models open source.
The government is planning to publish its response to the AI White Paper by the end of the year – and these are the lines we will be pursuing when we engage with that response.
Academy of the Mathematical Sciences
Finally, the government announced funding for AcadMathSci, meaning the proto-Academy is one step closer to fruition. This is a welcome development, and we look forward to members continuing to support in the further stages of its creation.
Please let us know at policy@rss.org.uk whether you found this update useful or if there are other things you would like to hear from us.
For more on our views on AI and governance, read our response to the government white paper "A Pro-Innovation Approach to AI Regulation"