Head of UK’s beleaguered Alan Turing Institute resigns
The chief executive of the UK’s leading artificial intelligence institute is stepping down after a staff revolt and government calls for a strategic overhaul.Jean Innes has led the Alan Turing Institute since 2023, but her position has come under pressure amid widespread discontent within the organisation and a demand from its biggest funder, the UK government, for a change in direction.ATI said the search was already under way for a replacement for Innes, who held senior roles in the civil service and technology industry before her appointment.Government sources pointed to a letter sent by the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to ATI’s chair in July that demanded strategic change and indicated a need for new leadership.In the letter, Kyle said the institute should switch its focus to defence and national security and urged “careful consideration” on having an appropriate executive team in place for such a move.
Innes said on Thursday: “It has been a great honour to lead the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, implementing a new strategy and overseeing significant organisational transformation.With that work concluding, and a new chapter starting for the institute, now is the right time for new leadership and I am excited about what it will achieve.”One source familiar with the internal debate at ATI said Innes’s departure indicated that Kyle’s letter had been taken seriously.However, the source added that changes at board level would be needed as well if ATI was to focus fully on defence and national security.The reply letter to Kyle from the ATI chair, Doug Gurr, a former Amazon executive, said it would focus on defence and national security but would still work on environment and health.
An ATI staff member, who said they had consulted on a range of concerns held by colleagues, said the resignation of Innes indicated governance at the institute was not working and that its leadership “needed to be held to account”,Many employees still want the institute to address “societal challenges” as well as focus on defence and security, said the staff member,Gurr thanked Innes, who will remain in her post until later this year, for focusing on “delivering real-world impact in priority areas for the UK”,ATI has been beset by internal strife since last year as staff protested against changes, culminating in a group of employees filing a whistleblower complaint to the Charity Commission last month,Citing references to funding in Kyle’s letter, they said they feared £100m of government backing may be withdrawn, which “could lead to the institute’s collapse”.
ATI is a registered charity but relies on the government for most of its funding.The institute, which employs 440 people, had been undergoing a transformation programme before Kyle’s intervention, labelled Turing 2.0, in which it would focus on three key areas: health, the environment and defence and security.The overhaul has caused staff upheaval, with employees telling the board last year that ATI’s credibility was in “serious jeopardy”.A redundancy process is also under way at the institute, which recently notified about 50 staff that their jobs were at risk.
ATI has dropped projects related to online safety, tackling the housing crisis and reducing health inequality.ATI, 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 drive an “informed public conversation” on AI.Its five founding UK universities were Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, University College London and Warwick, with its research work including teaming up with the Met Office to improve weather forecasting, creating cardiac “digital twins” to study heart disease, and improving air traffic control.The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.
If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.Secure Messaging in the Guardian appThe Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories.Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs.This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu.
Select ‘Secure Messaging’,SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and postIf you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform,Finally, our guide at theguardian,com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each,
Powering change: UK battery firms aim to unlock the way to net zero
Think of battery manufacturing and it may evoke images of Elon Musk and Tesla’s sprawling “gigafactories” around the globe, or China’s vast, hi-tech clean rooms churning out cells to go in anything from electric toothbrushes to mobile phones and cars. But at Invinity Energy Systems’s small factory in Bathgate, near Edinburgh, workers slotting parts together are hoping that Britain can also play a part in the battery revolution.These batteries, which rely on vanadium ions, are put in 6-metre (20ft), 25-tonne shipping containers. They will not go into cars, but the manufacturer hopes the technology can win a place in a global rush into storage to usher in the shift to net zero carbon grids.Renewable electricity is the future of the global energy system: cheaper and cleaner than fossil fuels
UK retail sales rise but stores fear tax worries could hit festive period
Record warm weather and a Bank of England interest rate cut lifted retail sales in August, according to the latest survey, but retailers fear that speculation about tax rises could weigh on consumers in the crucial pre-Christmas trading period.Retail sales increased 3.1% year on year as consumer spending on food and drink rose, and sales of computers and related equipment performed well as parents readied children for the new school year.However, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which publishes the monthly figures in conjunction with KPMG, said the 4.7% boost in spending on food and drink was due to price rises as opposed to consumers buying more products
Meta hid harms to children from VR products, whistleblowers allege
A group of six whistleblowers have come forward with allegations of a cover-up of harm to children on Meta’s virtual reality devices and apps. They say the social media company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and offers a line of VR headsets and games, deleted or doctored internal safety research that showed children being exposed to grooming, sexual harassment and violence in its 3D realms.“Meta knew that underage children were using its products, but figured, ‘Hey, kids drive engagement,’ and it was making them cash,” Jason Sattizahn, one of the whistleblowers who worked on the company’s VR research, said in a statement. “Meta has compromised their internal teams to manipulate research and straight-up erase data that they don’t like.”Sattizahn and the other whistleblowers, all current or former Meta employees, have disclosed these findings and a trove of documents to Congress, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the allegations
Amazon fires 150 unionized third-party drivers, Teamsters says
Amazon has fired more than 150 unionized drivers working for a third-party contractor in Queens, New York, according to the Teamsters union.Workers rallied at the company’s DBK4 facility in Queens on Monday after the company fired the drivers, who worked for Cornucopia, a delivery service provider (DSP) that Amazon contracted with to make deliveries. Amazon works with more than 3,000 DSPs around the world who deliver the company’s packages.The Teamsters said the firings were in retaliation for unionizing.“Amazon is breaking the law and we let the public know it,” said Antonio Rosario, a member of local 804 and a Teamster organizer, in a statement
The Sparks’ Cameron Brink is redefining what it means to be a young WNBA star
It’s the fourth quarter of a tense, close bout in Los Angeles between the hometown Sparks and the Indiana Fever. The game has serious playoff implications for both teams, so every bucket feels fraught, and it’s going down to the wire. Cameron Brink, the 6ft 4in second-year Sparks center with an unmistakable Rapunzel-esque blonde braid has fouled out of the game, but you wouldn’t know it from her enthusiasm on the bench. No one is clapping harder, cheering louder, for her teammates.That’s fundamental to who Brink is, according to everyone I talk to around the team in their final push for the playoffs in recent weeks – the Sparks are in a battle with Seattle Storm for the final spot
Take the strain: Tug of War World Championships
“Pick up the rope! Take the strain! Steady! Pull!” When the referee barks those commands, eight competitors on each team muster every ounce of strength in their bodies and attempt to haul one another across the crumbling earth. Clutching a rope made of hemp or polypropylene, the first team to tug their opponents four metres from their starting position is the winner. They dig their steel-plated heels into the dirt – but strictly no spikes are allowed – while coaching staff guide and encourage them to victory. In the round-robin stages, each contest lasts two ends and the top four teams reach the semi-finals; the semi-finals and finals are decided over three ends. With varying age and weight categories, competitors range from their teens to their 70s
Drawings reveal Victorian proposal for London’s own Grand Central station
Blur’s Dave Rowntree: ‘People think music was better in the old days, to which I say: bollocks!’
Gems review – dazzling technique elevates LA Dance Project’s contemporary ballet trilogy
The Guide #207: How Britain embraced The Simpsons, America’s true first family
From On Swift Horses to David Byrne: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Metropolitan gatekeeping has kept Marlowe marginalised | Letters