Businesses
UK Launches PM's AI Taskforce, Placing AI at the Heart of Government
28 Jul 2026
Lord Vallance to chair a new unit as Minister Kanishka Narayan takes AI to the Cabinet table.
For the first time, artificial intelligence has been positioned at the very centre of the UK government. On 24 July 2026, the Cabinet Office, alongside Prime Minister Andy Burnham and AI Minister Kanishka Narayan, announced the launch of the PM's AI Taskforce, a new unit tasked with driving the government's overall AI strategy and unlocking the technology's potential for growth, public sector transformation and prosperity across the country.
Commenting on the launch of the Taskforce, AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said:
"AI is likely the most significant technology in human history. That is why it is now at the UK Cabinet's table, so we can reindustrialise with AI, secure our country, and support our public services."
He also highlighted the collaborative role of the new Taskforce:
"I am delighted that Lord Vallance will work with me on the AI Taskforce, so we can draw on his unique mix of scientific expertise, experience in government and a relentless focus on delivery. We will focus on using AI to boost growth, strengthen public services and create opportunities in every part of our country.”
The Taskforce will be chaired by Lord Vallance, the UK's former Government Chief Scientific Adviser, who becomes one of the most consequential appointments yet in Britain's push to shape — rather than be shaped by — the AI revolution.
Speaking following his appointment, Lord Vallance said:
"I'm delighted to be appointed Chair of the AI Taskforce and Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor. This government is sending a signal that's clearer than ever before about its commitment to realising the opportunities of AI and Science and Technology.
The potential to transform public services, drive growth and improve people's lives is immense, and I intend to make sure we deliver on it."
A unit modelled on the Vaccines Taskforce
The government has explicitly drawn a comparison between the new body and one of its most celebrated recent successes: the Vaccines Taskforce, which coordinated the UK's COVID-19 vaccination rollout. Officials say the goal is to replicate that model of an empowered unit with direct accountability to the Prime Minister.
The Taskforce will report to two figures: Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo and AI Minister Narayan, while Lord Vallance himself will report directly to the Prime Minister. It will sit within the newly formed Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC), alongside No.10, No.10 North and core Cabinet Office functions, under First Secretary of State Louise Haigh. Responsibility for the existing AI Security Institute is also moving into the OPMC as part of the restructuring.
Beyond chairing the AI Taskforce, Lord Vallance has additionally been appointed Chair of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, building on his earlier role as Ministerial Champion for the initiative — a partnership with local government, business and academia aimed at driving regional innovation.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:
"AI is rapidly changing our world and we need to make sure it works for everyone. The opportunities are huge if we get it right and I want AI to power a new industrial revolution that drives good growth in every postcode.
Lord Vallance is a true public servant with decades of experience, expertise and a track record of delivery. I'm delighted he'll be chairing the AI Taskforce, putting AI at the centre of all our work to change people's lives for the better."
Part of a Broader AI Push
The Taskforce's launch caps a run of AI-related announcements from Narayan's brief in recent months, including:
- The Barnsley Tech Town AI Upskilling Challenge Fund — an £800,000 fund inviting training providers, colleges, charities and businesses to design AI skills programmes for Barnsley residents and workers, feeding into a national goal of upskilling 10 million UK workers in AI by 2030.
- Two new government-backed AI research labs at Oxford and UCL — the SOFAIR and BOLD labs — backed by up to £60 million and large-scale computing power, aimed at making AI cheaper, more reliable and easier to adopt.
- An Open-Source AI Builder Fund and Dev Board, unveiled at London Tech Week, offering over £500,000 in compute resources and mentoring to hackathon-winning developers building public-facing AI tools.
Context: A Reshuffled Government
The Taskforce arrives amid significant upheaval in Whitehall's approach to technology policy. Following Andy Burnham's rise to Prime Minister and a subsequent Cabinet reshuffle, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) — created under the Sunak government in 2023 — was scrapped altogether, its responsibilities dispersed across other departments. There is no longer a dedicated technology secretary.
Despite that restructuring, Narayan's own position was elevated rather than diminished: he now attends Cabinet as Minister for Artificial Intelligence, a first for the role. Industry voices have broadly welcomed the move. Dom Hallas, head of the Startup Coalition, has argued that if anyone in government could offset the loss of DSIT, "it would be Kanishka," citing his familiarity with Britain's start-up ecosystem. Academics, meanwhile, have cautioned that elevating an AI Minister to Cabinet is only a first step — with the harder test being whether the public feels the benefits of AI adoption before facing its disruptive effects on jobs.
Why It Matters
By consolidating AI strategy, delivery oversight and the AI Security Institute into a single Cabinet-linked unit reporting to the Prime Minister, the government is signalling that AI policy will no longer be run as a peripheral technology brief. Instead, it is being treated as a whole-of-government priority — with growth, public service transformation and national competitiveness all bound up in how effectively the Taskforce can execute.
With Lord Vallance's delivery record and Narayan's Cabinet-level mandate now aligned under one structure, the coming months will test whether Britain's AI ambitions can move from strategy documents to measurable outcomes for businesses and citizens alike.
