Mayor pledges £18m to ready London for AI shift

The mayor of London has announced £18m to help young Londoners into work and training, as part of plans to prepare the capital for artificial intelligence.

Sadiq Khan accepted recommendations from his AI and Jobs Taskforce, including an early-warning system to spot AI-driven job changes and a scheme pairing young Londoners with employers.

In June, London employers warned that firms across the capital are struggling to find the skills they need as artificial intelligence reshapes the job market.

The taskforce, chaired by Baroness Martha Lane-Fox, concluded that London should shape the AI change rather than wait for disruption.

AI can increasingly carry out routine, administrative and text-heavy tasks, changing what jobs involve and the skills employers want.

A BusinessLDN survey of more than 2,000 business leaders found that half their existing workforce had the skills their business needed, down from 63% a year earlier. More than three-quarters expected a significant need for AI and advanced digital skills over the next five years, up from 66% in 2025.

The committee, which includes firms such as Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, NatWest, Sky and Linklaters, asked City Hall to create a pan-London careers and skills service, set up a real-time dashboard tracking AI's impact on jobs, and allow employers to help design training. It also urges the government to reform the growth and skills levy and expand adult-learning funding.

Muniya Barua, deputy chief executive of BusinessLDN, said London was "at the sharp end of the AI revolution", creating "a huge opportunity, but also a responsibility to ensure Londoners are equipped with the skills they need".

The plan was submitted to the mayor's AI and Jobs Taskforce, whose recommendations Sir Sadiq Khan has now accepted.

The taskforce, chaired by Baroness Martha Lane-Fox, concluded that an AI "jobs apocalypse" was not inevitable, but said London should be the first city to actively shape the transition rather than wait for disruption.

Khan agreed to take forward three measures: an early-warning system to spot AI-driven job changes before they become a crisis, a partnership bringing employers, workers and educators together to redesign jobs rather than simply automate them, and a scheme pairing young Londoners with employers to shape future careers.

He also announced £18m to help young Londoners into work, training or education, including £10.5m to extend a programme for about 6,000 people not currently in education, employment or training.

The taskforce also urged him to open talks with the government on devolving more control over skills policy to the capital.

Khan said the debate about AI had "become too polarised", adding that "some claim it will solve everything. Others predict mass unemployment.

"Neither view helps Londoners prepare for the future."

Lane-Fox said that for many Londoners AI "still feels like something happening to them, not with them", warning of "a quieter drift" of "fewer entry-level roles, weaker career ladders and growing inequality" unless the city acted early.

Adam Cantwell-Corn, of the Trades Union Congress and a member of the taskforce, said how AI affected working lives would "be shaped by choices and who gets to make them", adding that "workers need to be part of making those decisions".

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