Keir Starmer’s AI Superpower Vision: National Data Library — Innovation or Reckless Desperation?
Keir Starmer delivered a talk today outlining his Labour Party’s vision to transform the UK into an AI superpower, amidst growing pressure to keep pace with the US and China. One of the major proposals is the creation of a “National Data Library,” a comprehensive dataset containing public records controlled by the government. This initiative aims to attract leading AI companies to collaborate with the UK and provide in-depth, real-world data to develop its own AI models.
In this article, we explore why this plan might be a terrible idea and why it appears to be an act of desperation. We also take a balanced approach by evaluating the potential benefits, although they seem limited.
How Did We Get Here?
The UK has been struggling to find a foothold in this new world economy heavily influenced and directed by the recent advancements in AI.
The growth of American tech stocks was nothing short of exceptional in 2024 and 2025 looks to be another promising year of growth.
Nvidia, a key player in the AI supply chain, saw its stock price surge by 137% in the last year alone. This reflects the massive and accelerating growth of the AI industry, driven largely by US-based companies.
OpenAI, at a valuation of $157 billion, is now worth approximately 30 times the UK’s most valuable AI company, Lendable. This stark contrast in valuation highlights the significant difference in investment and scale between the US and UK AI sectors.
The UK’s most valuable company overall, AstraZeneca, has a market cap of roughly £200 billion. This pales in comparison to US tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, which have market caps exceeding $2 trillion.
We can go on and on plus we haven’t even talked about companies like Amazon being several times bigger than any tech company in the UK.
The UK has had a growth problem which has affected them economically for years and that’s common knowledge by now but Keir Starmer has plans to turn it all around with one swift move. “AI”.
A New AI-Driven UK
“To make new advances in AI that benefit our society we need to ensure researchers and innovators have access to new data. We will responsibly, securely and ethically unlock the value of public sector data assets to support AI research and innovation through the creation of the National Data Library and the government’s wider data access policy. Both will be underpinned by strong privacy-preserving safeguards. The government will set out further details on the National Data Library in due course.”
Source: AI Opportunities Action Plan: government response — GOV.UK
In order to “catch up”, Keir Starmer has pledged many different ai-focused initiatives such as:
- Deploying AI to diagnose breast cancer more quickly.
- Speeding up planning consultations in the built environment.
- Helping teachers with administrative tasks.
- Improving roads through AI-driven pothole-spotting cameras.
- Creating dedicated AI growth zones to accelerate the building of AI infrastructure.
- Establishing a new supercomputer at the Atomic Energy Authority in Culham, Oxfordshire.
- Forming a new national data library to unlock the value of public data and support AI development.
- Creating an AI Energy Council to address the energy demands of AI infrastructure.
When looking at them, they actually look quite encouraging but the only concern and it’s a major concern, is the idea of a “National Data Library”.
A “National Data Library”?
While the details of what will be included are unclear, we can make some predictions based on what is currently available to the UK:
Public Health Data (NHS) — The UK has access to a wealth of data in NHS records it can use to train AI.
Government Departments — Departments like the Department for Education, Department of Health & Social Care, and the Department for Transport, which manage a wide range of public data.
CCTV and Other Surveillance Data — Data from the hundreds of thousands of cameras plotted on public property can be used to train vision AI.
Note: As of the time of writing, Jan 2025, The UK government has not confirmed any of these data points to be included in the eventual library but its fair to assume that there is potential them to be used. The data will apparently be “anonymized” to minimize individuals exposure to harm from malicious actors.
The biggest one here would be the health records provided by the NHS. Without, extreme care, the UK is basically forfeiting the safety of its citizens and itself to attempt to boost growth.
The ridiculousness gets more apparent when you consider the fact no other country has done this before. There was no vote and while it has not been enacted, the lack of consensus is treacherous.
Why it’s Wrong and Dangerous
There are so many reasons why this is not only wrong, it’s terribly unsafe.
Identity Theft and Fraud
Detailed medical records often contain a wealth of personal information (full name, date of birth, address, NHS number) that could be used to steal someone’s identity, open fraudulent accounts, or obtain loans in their name.
Enhanced Targeted Phishing Scams
Malicious actors could use medical information gleaned from NHS records to craft highly convincing phishing emails or messages. For example, they could pose as a healthcare provider or insurer, tricking individuals into revealing financial information or downloading malware.
Blackmail and extortion: Sensitive medical information, such as mental health diagnoses or details of past treatments, could be used to blackmail or extort individuals.
Discrimination
Employers or insurers could potentially access and misuse health information to discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions or disabilities.
Social Engineering
Criminals could use medical information to manipulate or exploit individuals. For example, they could use knowledge of a patient’s medical condition to gain their trust and then defraud them.
Propagating Data Inequality
There is already a great divide between the institutional knowledge and public knowledge. This move by the UK will put the same institutions in possession of one the few sacred pieces of data people have!
First, it was social media data, then companies started scraping data from the web without permission, the last frontier would be getting access to public health information, administrative documents, legal documents?
It will lead to eventual privatisation of public data. Individuals will not be able to access this information unless they are incredibly wealthy. The data will not be cheap!
Benefits?
There are benefits with all that said.
The UK will be a trailblazer as of the first nations outside of China to digitize public information for the supposed betterment of their people. This may encourage other western nations to follow suit creating an international marketplace of everyone’s data. That would certainly be quite the spectacle.
With the promise of access to a gold mine of data, companies might be willing to do more business with the UK. Giving them that leverage in AI that they crave so much.
To add to that, many different, positive initiatives will likely be birthed from this. From companies creating specialized disease treatments using highly informed AI models to being able to set more effective tax policies using the trove of employee tax returns.
They are trying to “bring something to the table” as the saying goes but the question is, are they bringing too much and can they afford to do so?
What happens to public privacy? Did it ever exist?
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