According to BBC News - Business, Sunak described concerns from graduates looking for entry-level jobs as justified, noting it is getting tougher for young people to secure roles in service sectors such as law, accountancy, and creative industries. Early signs indicate AI is starting to affect hiring rather than outright employment levels, with research from Anthropic finding no clear rise in unemployment in AI-exposed roles but pointing to a slowdown in hiring, particularly among younger workers. Job entry rates for those aged 22 to 25 in exposed occupations have fallen compared with pre-2022 levels, and the British Standards Institution found 41% of businesses say AI is enabling headcount reductions, while nearly a third now consider AI solutions before hiring a human.
Sunak argued that current policy risks lagging behind these changes, with official labour market data often too slow to capture real-time shifts in hiring and job design. He backed plans by Rachel Reeves to establish an AI economics institute, but said it would need access to live data from job markets and technology firms to be effective. Proposals on how policy should respond range from cutting taxes on employment to encourage hiring, to introducing levies on companies that replace workers with AI, though ministers have so far rejected the latter.
Sunak, now an adviser to AI firm Anthropic and Microsoft, said while he is an enthusiast for the transformative impact of AI, he emphasized that people are more likely to lose their job to someone using AI than to AI itself. During his time as prime minister, he made tech regulation a significant priority, setting up an AI safety summit in 2023. The Conservative MP also revealed that he had joined forces with Labour's deputy prime minister David Lammy to promote investment in the UK tech sector at a recent AI summit.