Plan to reform institutions vital to UK’s AI ambitions, expert says

A five-year programme of institutional reform is the only credible route to mass AI adoption across the UK’s public services, according to a new book by a University of Exeter academic.

Making AI Work for Britain explores how the UK’s digital government made progress by consolidating demand and diversifying supply, and shows how to apply the same discipline to AI – turning a bold strategy into responsible AI delivery.

Professor Alan Brown, a specialist in digital innovation, says the UK has strong AI credentials, with a wave of investment into AI infrastructure and ambitious initiatives such AI Growth Zones, but needs a clear plan for implementation. 

With the government’s own data revealing only one in 10 major government technology programmes succeeds, Professor Brown warns that without root-and-branch institutional reform, the UK’s AI ambitions will suffer the same fate.

He sets out a five-year programme of reform – built around governance, procurement, skills and accountability – which he argues is the only credible route to AI adoption at scale across the UK’s public services.

The book draws on 20 years of documented evidence to identify the structural failures behind the collapse of the Government Digital Service’s ambitions, the derailment of Universal Credit, and the slow pace of NHS digitisation.

Professor Brown warns that current government plans for AI repeat the same mistakes: strategy without institutional architecture.

“The starting point to make AI work for Britain is implementation, not aspiration,” said Professor Brown.

“Previous strategies declared where the UK wanted to be and assumed the institutions would follow. What I provide is 20 years of documented evidence that shows why that hasn’t worked – and an institutional architecture that can break the cycle.”

His proposals include the establishment of a statutory AI Coordination Authority, modelled on the Office for Budget Responsibility, with the independence and authority to direct resources and hold departments to account.

Professor Brown also calls for a ‘sovereignty-by-default’ standard on transatlantic AI investment, keeping sensitive public functions – health, justice, welfare and security – under UK legal control.

On procurement, he recommends applying the Procurement Act’s competitive, flexible procedure to all AI contracts above £500,000, with maximum two-year initial terms and mandatory review before any extension.

On skills, he proposes a national Digital Lifelong Learning Passport backed by government credits and employer investment, alongside an AI skills levy extending the Apprenticeship Levy to cover reskilling for existing employees.

Professor Brown also takes aim at accountability, calling for a mandatory legitimacy assessment for every high-stakes public AI deployment – one that asks not only whether a system produces accurate outputs, but whether the people affected by it will experience it as legitimate.

Professor Brown is co-author of the 2014 book Digitizing Government, which influenced the creation of the Government Digital Service and the shared components – GOV.UK Pay, GOV.UK Notify – now used across Whitehall.

“Strategy documents are fine,” he said, “but they don’t transform countries. Institutions do.”

Making AI Work for Britain will be launched on 28 April and will be freely available to download at FutureOfAI.uk.

Professor Brown will also be discussing the book’s findings at a free-to-attend webinar hosted by the University of Exeter on 12 May.