When hundreds of consumers withdrew their deposits from Silicon Valley Bank last yr in one among the most important bank runs in U.S. history, British enterprise capitalist Matt Clifford picked up the phones.
He spent a busy weekend making phone calls to British ministers, explaining that small British tech firms wouldn’t find a way to cover their costs and relaying messages from the federal government to firms to allay the panic. When HSBC stepped in to purchase the failing bank, the entrepreneurs thanked him.
Since then, the 39-year-old has gained increasing authority across government, advising successive Tory and Labor governments on their technology policy.
But several media and technology executives told the Financial Times they felt the previous McKinsey consultant – who founded a successful investment firm with offices around the globe – had been given excessive influence over policy within the AI sector.
Skeptics argue that Clifford, who helped arrange the UK's AI Safety Institute and the AI Safety Summit and led the brand new government's AI policy review, has allowed the federal government to focus too narrowly on AI safety.
“He is unelected and yet he has enormous power to shape policy,” said a British technology executive.
Clifford – who studied history at Cambridge and computer statistics at MIT and co-founded enterprise capital firm Entrepreneur First on the age of 25 – is amongst a gaggle of influential government advisers who want the UK to take a number one role in AI security.
However, critics argue that this has had a negative impact on other parts of the UK AI industry.
One chief executive said their biggest concern was that the small circle of advisers, including Clifford and AI Saftey Institute chairman Ian Hogarth, had not challenged the federal government enough since it focused on “absurdly distant” threats comparable to the production of Chemicals through AI concentrated weapons.
Several technology experts and media executives have argued that this has allowed AI to miss more dangers to pedestrians, including bias and copyright infringement.
Damian Collins, a former technology minister, said Clifford was “clearly an especially capable person, however the balance of interests represented and the way in which through which they’re represented raise concerns”, citing particularly the heated debate over copyright protection for publishers and media producers.
Clifford has advocated for relieving copyright restrictions to permit AI firms to mine data, text and pictures to coach their algorithms.
Meanwhile, Hermann Hauser, who helped found chip maker Arm and co-founded enterprise capital firm Amadeus Capital, said the political discussion within the UK is “so dominated by danger and security that the federal government is missing the center of the story” – the massive one Potential to extend economic productivity.
A technology executive emphasized that the query of who has the federal government's ear in formulating AI policy is crucial. “This is about an irreversible, once-in-a-lifetime challenge: educating politicians about what this technology can achieve.”
A former government official points out that in other policy areas – comparable to clean energy and national infrastructure – ministers seek advice from a big selection of voices to supply strategic guidance.
They said it was “extremely strange for a rustic of 70 million folks that there are so few people working as AI policy advisors,” adding: “It's very puzzling that (Clifford) is.” “managed to maneuver from leading the safety summit to mainly crafting the federal government’s AI strategy.”
Still, allies within the tech community argue that Clifford has found the suitable balance of supporting the federal government while speaking truth to power. They indicate that lots of his critics have their very own interests, including within the media sector.
Clifford's involvement in government dates back to 2022, when he was chosen to go the UK's recent Advanced Research and Invention Agency. He was subsequently appointed by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2023 to establish the UK's Advanced AI Task Force.
Later that yr, he was asked again to steer the preparation work for the primary AI Safety Summit, where he presented to investors and politicians to clarify the risks of the emerging technology.
“Most of the tech community may be very technical, it seems very nerdy, politicians find that arduous to know,” said Dom Hallas, executive director of the Startup Coalition, who worked with Clifford.
“Matt is warm and personable. He knows how one can work out what is going on, find an answer after which give credit to the politicians,” he added.
When Sunak launched the UK AI Safety Institute on the summit in November last yr, Clifford was appointed as a member of the advisory board.
Following Labor's election victory in July, recent technology minister Peter Kyle asked Clifford to provide an AI Opportunities Action Plan with recommendations to support the sector within the UK. His report is because of be published next week.
After the summit last yr, Clifford said he was excited “The individuals who will develop the technology that may be certain that AI is secure, considered secure and due to this fact widely used.”
This has led some to imagine that government policy now disproportionately advantages firms operating within the AI security market, including Pattern Labs and Advai.
Clifford is a small investor in Faculty Science, an organization that has won contracts price over £1m from government-owned AISI to check things like “jailbreaking” – prompts to get AI chatbots to bypass its guardrails .
He points out that he only owns 0.02 percent of the college, which is lower than 0.1 percent of his assets, and was not involved within the awarding of this contract.
Clifford's wide-ranging investment portfolio also includes medical technology company Accurx, which has large NHS contracts.
Asked why he had successively taken on unpaid advisory roles, Clifford told the FT he was motivated by patriotism: “I feel Britain could be the perfect place on this planet for technology.” . and I feel we really want the private sector to take part in government.”
Clifford added that the ideas he promotes on AI safety are “mainstream” and that he’s in no way an “AI doomer” but has spent his profession helping people construct AI firms. People near Clifford say his motion plan next week will exhibit his more optimistic view of the potential within the AI market, including expanding Britain's computing capability.
A government spokesman said that when industry experts were brought in to support government work, “they often include external interests, which is why we’ve got robust processes in place to administer them appropriately”.
“The AI Opportunities Action Plan will discover opportunities to speed up the usage of AI across the economy, and Matt has engaged extensively with AI startups, industry leaders, academia and civil society,” they said. They added that he “had no role in deciding government policy or awarding contracts and was tasked with submitting ideas.”
