Time is running out for governments to mould AI to create public value, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has said, warning that the politics of AI are set to "drastically change" in 2026 as recent technical breakthroughs get implemented across the economy.
In its report Acceleration is not a strategy: a framework for directing AI towards public value before it's too late, the IPPR said that the way that the AI ecosystem is developing is “fundamentally misaligned” with the public interest.
Policymakers have "struggled to articulate a clear vision for what it would mean for AI to go well", it said, arguing that AI policy has been "too timid" to protect people from the risks of AI and deliberately steer this transformation towards public value.
On this point, the report said: "Experiments to harness AI in areas such as healthcare and education are welcome, and the UK is ahead of many countries on this, with initiatives including in-house government AI engineers and a series of AI big bets to improve public services.
"Yet, at the moment, efforts to show the public what AI is for do not think big enough given the pace of change. Meanwhile, efforts to rein in big-tech power have been modest and efforts to redistribute the benefits, for example by giving the public a stake in AI’s economic upside, have been lacking entirely."
The report said that European governments need a convincing positive vision for AI in order to stave off anti-AI sentiment.
It argued that 2026 "must be the year when European governments" adjust their approach, recognising that simply growing the AI sector and hoping for spill-over benefits is not a complete strategy.
The IPPR recommended that Governments become “more interventionist” in relation to steering AI towards clear public value mission, preparing sectors for the radical transformation that AI will bring, confronting the extreme concentration of power in the AI economy, and ensuring the benefits are broadly felt.
Carsten Jung, associate director at IPPR, said: “We don’t have to be passengers in the AI revolution, we can be drivers. Right now, policy is focused on speeding up AI adoption, but not on where it’s taking us. Without a clearer direction, we risk ending up with more inequality, more concentrated power, and benefits that never reach most people.”
Roa Powell, senior research fellow at IPPR, meanwhile added that the public are "increasingly worried about AI, and for good reason", adding: "If governments can’t show what AI is for and how it will improve lives, that concern could quickly turn into outright opposition.
"The task now is to make AI work for the public, not just for a handful of companies."
