UK appoints Kanishka Narayan as first AI Minister

The United Kingdom has named Kanishka Narayan its inaugural minister responsible for artificial intelligence. Appointed by new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Narayan has been elevated to a cabinet‑level position and will sit on the Prime Minister’s weekly meetings. His portfolio emphasizes a "re‑industrialisation" agenda, focusing on domestic AI chip production, hardware infrastructure, and AI‑drone development for defence.

Narayan, born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar and raised in Cardiff, studied at Eton, Oxford and Stanford before entering Labour politics. In his first interview after the appointment, he pledged to secure British jobs and retain strategic value from AI technologies. DeepMind director Demis Hassabis publicly congratulated him on X, noting the significance for the UK AI ecosystem. The government plans to invest £1.1 billion in AI hardware, including £150 million for next‑generation chip procurement, and to attract talent through visa incentives and regulatory reforms.