Ben Johnson
@ersatzben
UK science and tech policy @UniStrathclyde / @BritishProgress / ex-UK Government. Views own.
🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 The Alan Turing Institute has visibly struggled, and is now at a critical juncture. The Secretary of State has intervened. What happens next? A new report for @britishprogress by me and @jujulemons sets out a plan: 🧵
This is a very good piece - highly recommended
It's trendy for politicians to show off extremely short timelines. In the UK, this is especially curious given (a) the Secretary of State for technology is one of them and (b) with a few notable exceptions, the UK is behaving as if AGI is centuries away Link below 🇬🇧
A year ago we had a new government and a new opportunity for growth. Today, there is a community of experts & advocates fighting to end stagnation in Britain. Some photos from the evening...
It was a joy to welcome @peterkyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation & Technology, to speak at our summer party last week! We also heard from @matthewclifford, a beacon of British progress, and our cofounders @jujulemons & @dc_lawrence
Fascinating to compare the solutions of OpenAI vs Deepmind to the IMO 2025. Both won Gold for answering P1 to P5 correctly. OpenAI (left) vs Gemini (right)
Official results are in - Gemini achieved gold-medal level in the International Mathematical Olympiad! 🏆 An advanced version was able to solve 5 out of 6 problems. Incredible progress - huge congrats to @lmthang and the team! deepmind.google/discover/blog/…
a timely new report from @BritishProgress ! I think highly-capable AI agents have the potential to transform the way militaries are run over the next decade, so there is huge scope for impactful defense + AI work that ATI can tackle by narrowing its focus
🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 The Alan Turing Institute has visibly struggled, and is now at a critical juncture. The Secretary of State has intervened. What happens next? A new report for @britishprogress by me and @jujulemons sets out a plan: 🧵
It's mad that the UK has a national AI institute that remains unaligned and unresponsive to national priorities – the government and the EPSRC should act on these recommendations now, rather than waiting for yet another governance review or funding cycle to come round
🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 The Alan Turing Institute has visibly struggled, and is now at a critical juncture. The Secretary of State has intervened. What happens next? A new report for @britishprogress by me and @jujulemons sets out a plan: 🧵
Good to cover this report from @BritishProgress 'An influential think tank has urged a shake-up of the Alan Turing Institute to meet its new ministerial mandate to focus on defence.' researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-res…
🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 The Alan Turing Institute has visibly struggled, and is now at a critical juncture. The Secretary of State has intervened. What happens next? A new report for @britishprogress by me and @jujulemons sets out a plan: 🧵
Excellent piece on reforming the national AI lab, the Alan Turing Institute, building on its area of success, and aligned with the Secretary of State's letter. We also need to learn lessons for next time.
🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 The Alan Turing Institute has visibly struggled, and is now at a critical juncture. The Secretary of State has intervened. What happens next? A new report for @britishprogress by me and @jujulemons sets out a plan: 🧵
it's been clear for a while that @turinginst is punching below its weight, but I've been waiting for someone to set out the detailed, constructive case for what should come next look no further. great work from @ersatzben and @jujulemons:
🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 The Alan Turing Institute has visibly struggled, and is now at a critical juncture. The Secretary of State has intervened. What happens next? A new report for @britishprogress by me and @jujulemons sets out a plan: 🧵