Artificial Intelligence (AI) in London

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Discussion | Future of AI in London

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing how we live and work. It’s used in hiring decisions, in everyday tasks and part of the skills employers are looking for.  

To help City Hall make sure AI benefits all Londoners, we want to hear from you:  

Join the conversation

Thinking about work and jobs in London...

  • What opportunities, if any, do you think AI brings?
  • What challenges, if any, do you think AI poses? 

Luke from City Hall will be reading your comments and joining in the conversation.  

Like what others have commented? You can use the upvote or care button to show support. 

About AI in London

Your views will help shape the work of the Mayor’s new AI and Jobs Taskforce. 

This is a group of experts who will help the Mayor to understand:

  • Where the impacts are greatest  
  • Where the opportunities lie
  • What the Mayor and partners can do to help

You can read more about the Mayor’s plans to support Londoners with AI on our background page.

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Comments (211)

Avatar for - Polar bear

I use AI daily for both personal and work-related tasks, and it has completely changed the way I work. I’ve become much more productive, and it has been especially helpful with my dyslexia.

 

However, AI should be used as a tool, not as a...

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I use AI daily for both personal and work-related tasks, and it has completely changed the way I work. I’ve become much more productive, and it has been especially helpful with my dyslexia.

 

However, AI should be used as a tool, not as a replacement for people. One thing I’m seeing more of is companies hiring fewer new staff because the productivity gains from AI allow existing employees to pick up the slack, especially for entry-level roles.

 

Companies are benefiting from employees using AI to increase output and efficiency, but the extra work and revenue often only benefit shareholders and senior leadership. If AI is creating more value, there should be more discussion about how that value is shared with the people actually doing the work.

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Avatar for - American pika

I use AI (LLMs and Agents) at work. It saves a huge amount of time on repetitive tasks and can produce better written outputs than most people. However, it can also make mistakes. People need to be educated that LLMs can 'hallucinate'. I am...

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I use AI (LLMs and Agents) at work. It saves a huge amount of time on repetitive tasks and can produce better written outputs than most people. However, it can also make mistakes. People need to be educated that LLMs can 'hallucinate'. I am concerned about the impact of AI on entry level jobs (already impacting my workplace) and about how it could be used in the hiring process in a way that is unintentionally discriminatory. I am also concerned that people do not understand how data put into AI tools is processed and stored. I also suspect small businesses might be left behind in the AI revolution as they cannot afford to invest in AI the same way big businesses can. Please invest in providing Londoners with free education to enhance their AI knowledge and skills or the City will be left behind. 

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Avatar for - Koala

Really concerned for generation of YP saftey aspects of using AI. In a responsiable way. Lots of training at school,extra curriculum for them. Also couses or events by official companies for general public to learn, or understamd what may...

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Really concerned for generation of YP saftey aspects of using AI. In a responsiable way. Lots of training at school,extra curriculum for them. Also couses or events by official companies for general public to learn, or understamd what may be fake pr real. AI can be mosleading. We also need know statstics on job losses because of AI should be some kind of reporting system from companies to say how many staff had before usong AI to using AI going forward lole reduancey/scaling down on staff amf what type jobs have gone. 

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Avatar for -

AI is a tool, it shouldn't be considered a replacement for people. It has been proven to hallucinate and make things up when providing answers to people. It cannot be fully trusted to complete work autonomously without someone checking for...

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AI is a tool, it shouldn't be considered a replacement for people. It has been proven to hallucinate and make things up when providing answers to people. It cannot be fully trusted to complete work autonomously without someone checking for errors and while it might complete the work it's not necessarily more efficient.  

The above is not even taking into account what is the actual cost of using AI? Do our communities now need to be built with data centres in mind? How much natural resource are these data centres taking away from the populace? What is the point if it does more damage than good?

Scammers are using AI to fake voices, images, texts to steal millions from vulnerable people - who is considered responsible the scammers or the people who created the AI tool that allows this?

Companies are using AI chatbots for customer service, HR, fraud and AML. It is automatically rejecting job applicants that might have been given a chance because a human would have found a detail of interest that the AI would claim "doesn't fit in parameters". We are human no one is ever going to fit into every "parameter" that is the beauty of our species. 

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Avatar for - Sumatran elephant

There is an opportunity to track vehicole with high emission?

Avatar for -

I am an IT professional for 45 years, my position is systems and solutions architect. I write code for various platforms and Oracle databases. I am considered good at what I do. A week ago a new programmer showed me some code he had written...

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I am an IT professional for 45 years, my position is systems and solutions architect. I write code for various platforms and Oracle databases. I am considered good at what I do. A week ago a new programmer showed me some code he had written, I looked at the code and asked him is he understood it. No, was the answer because he used AI to create it. 1600 lines of code I rewrote in 200 lines. Both codes were tested, mine worked at a 63% performance increase. I told him, get a pencil and paper and use the mind. Young people are becoming lazy and they don't really care if the code is good or not, as long as it works. Our minds are what is fundamental to being who we are. We do not need a machine to do the work for us. Thankyou.

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

 recruitment is now destroyed as all cv's scanned and reviewed by AI and if criteria not met rejected e.g if ou 66 and applying forj ob your automatically rejected as out of age parameter

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 recruitment is now destroyed as all cv's scanned and reviewed by AI and if criteria not met rejected e.g if ou 66 and applying forj ob your automatically rejected as out of age parameter

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

AI is a magnificent intervention but we all actually need to stand back and debate can we afford AI it is space demanding, energy demanding and water demanding and guess what ? we don't have enough energy, we don't have enough water and we...

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AI is a magnificent intervention but we all actually need to stand back and debate can we afford AI it is space demanding, energy demanding and water demanding and guess what ? we don't have enough energy, we don't have enough water and we don't have enough space unless we give up our green belt, we don't have enough materials for sustenance to survive as we will have to forgo water and energy to AI so maybe we will have to start culling the world population if we considerAI more important than human survival. AI was asked how can we stop the violence between humans- the answer was annihilate the Humans

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

  • What opportunities, if any, do you think AI brings?

    A few benefits to a select lucky few who are employed due to it

    What challenges, if any, do you think AI poses? 

    Reducing the amount of jobs available, especially entry level jobs catered to...
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  • What opportunities, if any, do you think AI brings?

    A few benefits to a select lucky few who are employed due to it

    What challenges, if any, do you think AI poses? 

    Reducing the amount of jobs available, especially entry level jobs catered to younger people. 
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Avatar for - Staghorn coral

The key challenge I see is the energy consumption for data servers and AI use: How would the council manage that surge of energy needs?

Avatar for - Amur leopard

Negative:

Day to day, people using an AI agent to identify my business as a potential sales lead, and to send me streams of annoying, time wasting emails is a drain on my time. I'm sure they think it's a brilliant way to save effort but it's...

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Negative:

Day to day, people using an AI agent to identify my business as a potential sales lead, and to send me streams of annoying, time wasting emails is a drain on my time. I'm sure they think it's a brilliant way to save effort but it's a waste of time and resources.

It makes up complete rubbish. This is not "hallucinating"; it is falsehoods, and thatnis dangerous.

I don't subscribe to any AI services and falsehoods  to block programs which claim to "help" me to write. I didn't invite any of this in. It's kicked the doors down.

It's intrusive, it steals creative work, it's making people less intelligent.

It uses too much energy and water.

ChatGPT sends me customers who believe it to be giving them facts. It is lying to them, but they believe it no me. 

I am fed social media posts which can appear real, but they are completely fake. The ones I see are being used to spread hate, and to sell useless or harmful "wellness" cures. 

Positive:

I make videos, and the built-in AI which writes captions has improved over its previous voice recognition, which couldn't cope with technical language. That has improved my life; the function was already in place and no longer makes as many mistakes. 

 

 

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Avatar for - Amur leopard

The huge dangers of AI are even being voiced by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, finally opening up space for dissent amid the headlong rush to embrace AI and fundamentally transform our lives. The environmental impact, damage to...

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The huge dangers of AI are even being voiced by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, finally opening up space for dissent amid the headlong rush to embrace AI and fundamentally transform our lives. The environmental impact, damage to people's cognitive faculties, unethical practices are all of huge concern and too little treated by the media. Powerful vested interests are pushing their own agenda, concealed behind amusing memes.

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Avatar for - Sumatran elephant

So called AI, to me it should more properly be called Machine Learning (though I suppose this doesn't have the zip of AI), can or could be a useful tool in many fields such as scientific, medical and even some humanities research. It should...

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So called AI, to me it should more properly be called Machine Learning (though I suppose this doesn't have the zip of AI), can or could be a useful tool in many fields such as scientific, medical and even some humanities research. It should not be used to make vague efficiency or time "savings" in the way it currently is whilst making humans redundant in what should be human facing roles simultaneously harvesting our personal data for the equally vague justifications put forward by politicians, cultivated on all sides by the optimistic promises of "progress" from the tech Bro's - with, possibly, the odd gratuity - and the far from well understood need those tech Bro's have for our data: all tech Bro's being, obviously, completely trustworthy, decent and well balanced individuals with nothing but a selfless desire to improve humanity's lot

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Avatar for - Sumatran elephant

London need to embrace AI both at workplace and in schools. More funding to be invested into Gen AI in London. 

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London need to embrace AI both at workplace and in schools. More funding to be invested into Gen AI in London. 

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Avatar for - Vaquita

if schools have not got the funding now how are they going to find the funding for that I dot think that is any good for schools we need teachers to teach not AI and as for the workplace thousands and thousands of jobs will be lost I say it...

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if schools have not got the funding now how are they going to find the funding for that I dot think that is any good for schools we need teachers to teach not AI and as for the workplace thousands and thousands of jobs will be lost I say it needs to be stopped before it's too late it will turn out for the worse AI is a bad thing and I most Certainly will not be using it ban it

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

its unaffo0rdable and will be our destruction sooner rather than later once it has inteligence it will steal our energy and water and we will die

Avatar for - Tiger

AI training and knowledge for older workforce and management in London is urgently needed so that they are not excluded from work

Avatar for - Vaquita

no it's not as you put it urgently needed at all and I don't want training or knowledge because I will never use it and have no interest in it and people are school leavers collage leavers and university leavers can't get work as it is as...

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no it's not as you put it urgently needed at all and I don't want training or knowledge because I will never use it and have no interest in it and people are school leavers collage leavers and university leavers can't get work as it is as companies are closing down because they cant afford to stay open you have only got to look at the high streets and AI will make thousands and thousands of job losses and we will have not many no jobs you only a number in the workplace your job could be next I can see what will happen

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Avatar for -

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

I am very concerned about the environmental impact of AI and data centres. I don't think the cost justifies the benefits in the current form. I am also concerned about issues of AI and copyright - it jas real potential to damage the...

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I am very concerned about the environmental impact of AI and data centres. I don't think the cost justifies the benefits in the current form. I am also concerned about issues of AI and copyright - it jas real potential to damage the creative industries and our government isn't taking it seriously enough. However I do think AI has great potential if applied and used effectively. I think it needs to be better regulated and governments need to be a bit less unquestioning about it. 

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Avatar for - Monarch butterfly

ChatGPT is an AI app that people can use in their daily lives to find out information on things. It has helped me find out information about things that I would otherwise find difficult. I am half pro, half anti AI as I think that it is in...

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ChatGPT is an AI app that people can use in their daily lives to find out information on things. It has helped me find out information about things that I would otherwise find difficult. I am half pro, half anti AI as I think that it is in its infancy.  There was a programme on operations being performed by AI where robots were in the operating theatre in London and the surgeon controlling the robots was in New Zealand. 

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Avatar for -

Isn't that human intelligence via communications networks, rather than artificial intelligence? The robots are not working independently, on their own. 

It is easier and more reliable to find out information on things without using AI. AI...

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Isn't that human intelligence via communications networks, rather than artificial intelligence? The robots are not working independently, on their own. 

It is easier and more reliable to find out information on things without using AI. AI sucks up all sorts of texts, papers, documents, messages, without having the know-how or any motivation to sort out what is tested verifiable fact and what is not. 

 

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Avatar for - Vaquita

I would rather go to the library and learn from a book and not AI I would rather do the thinking myself and not that thing like i'm a primary school kid

Avatar for - Monarch butterfly

AI is already in London as driverless cars are already around. I find them kind of eerie and would hesitate to get in one. I do wonder what the future holds job wise for my nephews and nieces as the job market adapts to AI and whether they...

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AI is already in London as driverless cars are already around. I find them kind of eerie and would hesitate to get in one. I do wonder what the future holds job wise for my nephews and nieces as the job market adapts to AI and whether they will be able to find jobs. Look at The World Cup, they are using robotic dogs for security reasons. 

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Avatar for - Vaquita

and the driverless cars don't know where they are going half the time and that will take taxi and uber drivers jobs away I don't think that your nephews and nieces will find a job or they will find it ten times difficult to get one and what...

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and the driverless cars don't know where they are going half the time and that will take taxi and uber drivers jobs away I don't think that your nephews and nieces will find a job or they will find it ten times difficult to get one and what can a robot dog do nothing apart from record and the way these feral youths are today they will end up being destroyed and that's a waste of money  

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Avatar for - Sumatran elephant

Waymo self driving cars fall under the scope of AI. I have seen 3 of these in the space of 30 mins around the Elephant, so they can’t all be the same one. I presume you are aware that their unpopularity, for their corporate ownership as...

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Waymo self driving cars fall under the scope of AI. I have seen 3 of these in the space of 30 mins around the Elephant, so they can’t all be the same one. I presume you are aware that their unpopularity, for their corporate ownership as much as their career destroying perniciousness, mean that they are actively frustrated by covering of their Lidar as well as outright vandalism (Hannah Fry did a useful piece on this recently for the BBC). In the light of this, and my own opposition to everything about them, I am wondering what, if any, consultation was taken on their imposition upon our city. 

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Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems that can perform tasks that usually require human intelligence, such as:

  • writing text,
  • generating images,
  • producing music,
  • recognising speech, and
  • translating language.