Robots at No 10: Starmer forges ahead with Al to 'rewire' the state

A data science unit of 'disruptors and innovators' starts work in Downing Street this week. Its Cummings-esque mission? Reinvent how government operates

- Rachel Sylvester

Earlier this year Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister's chief of staff, launched an "AI ideas" competition in Whitehall. His aim was to find the brightest and best from the civil service and beyond to help deliver Keir Starmer's promise to "rewire" the state.

It was reminiscent of Dominic Cummings's efforts to bring fresh thinking to Downing Street although McSweeney prefers to talk about "disrupters and innovators" rather than "misfits and weirdos".

The sifting process was surprisingly easy. Only 10 of the 1,500 officials who took part in the contest passed the maths test. They have been invited to a hackathon in No 10, where they will tackle a range of real government challenges. The successful candidates will join a new cadre of 20 "innovation fellows", external tech experts brought in to join the Downing Street data science team, known as "10 DS".

The first of them starts this week, charged with reinventing how the government works. "Now is the time for radicalism," a No 10 source says. "People want change. The most effective way of doing that is by reforming how the government works at the centre." Starmer is, a senior figure says, a "true believer" in the transformative power of AI and data analytics.

As the economy flatlines and Donald Trump's tariffs hit the prospects of future growth, the prime minister is convinced technology is the only way to square the circle of governing with dwindling resources and rising demand.

As director of public prosecutions, he replaced paper documents with digital files. Now he wants to use AI to drive productivity gains and humanise the delivery of public services. Starmer tells anyone who will listen about the wonders of software that can automatically transcribe interviews by social workers, doctors or probation officers and turn the text into a report, freeing up staff to concentrate on helping the people in their care.