Speaking at Conservative Party Conference, Dr Ben Spencer MP, Shadow Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, called on AI businesses to help shape the party’s approach to the technology. Criticising what he described as confusion over government responsibilities, Dr Spencer argued that Britain could turn its AI strengths into greater competitiveness and growth with the right business and economic environment.
Businesses at the centre of AI policy
Dr Ben Spencer MP, Shadow Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, has urged businesses developing artificial intelligence to help inform Conservative policy, arguing that politicians must understand the industry’s work if they are to support its growth and scrutinise government effectively.
Addressing an industry audience at Conservative Party Conference, Dr Spencer thanked those who had provided advice, introductions and support as he took on the AI brief.
He framed engagement with businesses as central to his approach, arguing that policy should begin with an understanding of how the technology is being developed and used.
“Government doesn’t make AI – businesses, you guys, make AI.”
He encouraged companies to contact him directly, inviting feedback on both his own work and the areas where the Opposition should challenge ministers.
“Please get in contact with me if you haven’t spoken to me already, so you can tell me when I’m doing something right, when I’m doing something wrong, and where we need to be challenging things,” he said.
The invitation positioned industry engagement as a source of practical evidence for both parliamentary scrutiny and the development of the Conservatives’ own AI agenda.
Challenging the Government’s AI responsibilities
Dr Spencer directed his strongest criticism at the organisation of AI responsibilities across government.
He told the audience that he had asked an unnamed AI tool to produce an organogram showing the Government’s AI departments, responsibilities, and reporting arrangements.
Describing the result, he said it showed “a complete mess and a shambles”, suggesting that businesses were struggling to navigate the structures around them.
His remarks were a political criticism of government organisation, rather than a detailed assessment of individual departments or their performance. However, they identified clarity of responsibility as an issue he intended to pursue through his shadow brief.
Dr Spencer said his immediate task was to keep government grounded in the realities facing the sector while working with Conservative colleagues to develop the party’s policy.
“My primary task is to try to get Government to stay real.”
He referred to developing “some really cool ideas”, but did not announce specific proposals, funding commitments or regulatory changes in these remarks.
Shaping the future, rather than simply predicting it
Alongside his criticism of government, Dr Spencer offered an optimistic account of Britain’s potential.
Describing himself as a science-fiction enthusiast, he spoke about the influence of author Isaac Asimov, whose work he had read in his late teens.
He loosely paraphrased an idea he attributed to Asimov: that thinking about the future should involve imagining the future people want and working to create it.
For Dr Spencer, AI represented the beginning of a substantial change whose longer-term consequences remained uncertain.
“We genuinely have no idea what is going to happen over the next five or ten years, let alone twenty or thirty years,” he said.
Nevertheless, he argued that uncertainty should not prevent Britain from acting. He described the country as well placed to benefit, provided businesses had the conditions they needed to develop and compete.
“If we can make sure we have the right business and economic environment, we can grab this opportunity, become competitive and drive growth.”
His closing message placed responsibility for turning that potential into results firmly with the businesses in the room: “You guys are going to make this happen.”
Final thought: turning engagement into a credible programme
Dr Spencer’s remarks set out his plans to listen to businesses, challenge unclear government responsibilities, and focus on competitiveness. That gives the Conservatives a starting point, but the test will be whether industry engagement produces clear choices on investment, infrastructure, skills, adoption, and proportionate regulation.
His criticism of government organisation will carry greater weight if accompanied by an explanation of how his party would make accountability clearer and delivery more effective. For the sector, the opportunity is to turn his invitation to engage into specific proposals that connect Britain’s AI capabilities with measurable economic and public benefit.
(Photo: Christine Quarmyne/CCHQ)