The UK’s national institute for artificial intelligence and data science has launched a consultation process that could lead to redundancies among its 440 staff.
In a memo sent to staff this month the Alan Turing Institute gave an update on its new strategy, under which it will concentrate on fewer projects.
It was addressed to “affected employees” and stated that the government-backed institute “may need to consider making redundancies”. According to informal calculations by staff, the memo could have been sent to as many as 140 people.
The internal document said the institute – which carries out research with universities, the private sector and government entities – was working on 111 live projects and needed to “move away from engaging in large numbers of individual projects”.
Last year the institute unveiled a new strategy dubbed “Turing 2.0” in which it would focus on three key areas: health, the environment, and defence and security. However, the organisation said there was now “less core funding than was assumed when the strategy was written”.
It said the institute had examined which of the 111 projects were “strategically aligned” to the Turing 2.0 drive and launched a process that could involve spinning out or closing the projects.
“This means regrettably that we may need to consider making redundancies,” the memo said.
It said it would explore ways of avoiding compulsory redundancies and hold elections from employee representatives in discussions. The consultancy process with employees is expected to end in February next year.
The institute’s chief executive, Dr Jean Innes, told the Guardian: “The Turing’s purpose is to make great leaps in the development and use of data science and AI in order to change the world for the better and in line with this we are shaping an ambitious new phase for the institute as we aim to use these technologies to tackle some of the biggest issues facing society.”
The institute, named after the British mathematician widely considered the father of modern computing, was founded in 2015 as a national institute for data science before adding AI to its remit in 2017.
Its goals include to “advance world-class research and apply it to national and global challenges”, as well as driving an “informed public conversation” on AI. Its five founding universities were Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, UCL and Warwick.
The possibility of job cuts at the institute comes as the government prepares to make two key announcements about the technology.
It is preparing to launch an “AI action plan” under the tech entrepreneur Matt Clifford that will look at how AI can spur economic growth and improve public services.
It is also set to release a consultation on an AI bill which will reportedly focus on making a voluntary AI model testing agreement between the UK government and tech companies legally binding, as well as making the UK’s AI Safety Institute – an organisation separate to the Turing – an arm’s length government body.
