UK government chases AI while aging IT leaves it exposed, PAC chair warns

The UK government is pushing ahead with its AI ambitions yet is dragging its feet on replacing aging IT systems that leave departments vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to a damning assessment from Parliament's spending watchdog. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC), warns in his second annual report that Whitehall is failing to tackle its longstanding technology problems, even as AI gives criminals and hostile states new ways to attack government systems. "AI is approaching government like a tsunami, and I remain sceptical that government is prepared for the enormity of this challenge," Clifton-Brown writes. The Conservative MP says ministers have announced reforms to improve digital capability but have yet to explain how they will close the civil service's skills gap, or when. He also fears another Whitehall reshuffle, this time involving the creation of the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, will make matters worse. The numbers aren't encouraging. …