Artificial Intelligence in the Economy and Society is sponsored by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Funds research on AI's impact on people, businesses, and society.

Artificial intelligence in the economy and society – UKRI Area of investment and support Area of investment and support: Artificial intelligence in the economy and society ESRC supports three main areas of artificial intelligence (AI) research: how people interact with AI and are affected by it, how social science guides the development, adoption and diffusion of AI, and how AI is used for social science research.

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) The scope and what we're doing We fund economic, behavioural, social and data science research that investigates how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used by and affects people, businesses, the economy and society. ESRC funds social science research that will guide the development of Al and support business to use AI to help with tasks, make things easier, or bring in new ideas.

We are also interested in how the social sciences can use AI in research and in understanding the impacts of AI on research and innovation.

Areas we cover include AI in: AI and machine learning to enhance social science research commercialisation of AI technologies national security and defence work, businesses and people Centre for Sociodigital Futures aims to create new approaches to fairer and more sustainable societies by exploring sociodigital futures-in-the-making. The centre carries out in-depth inquiry around digital technologies including AI.

Digital Good Network investigates what a good digital society should look like and how we get there. This social science-led programme looks at AI, among other digital technologies, to ensure it has positive outcomes for people and societies.

Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit) studies the way in which digital technologies, including AI, are changing work and their impact on employers, workers and their representatives, job seekers and governments.

OECD AI studies, part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) programme on AI in Work, Innovation, Productivity and Skills , analyse the impact of AI on the labour market, skills and social policy. The Productivity Institute explores how efficiently resources are used to produce goods and services and what this means for business, workers and communities.

It aims to understand how productivity is measured and how it truly contributes to increased living standards and wellbeing. It has a focus on how firms take up and use digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and what this means for productivity at both a firm level and at a national level.

InterAct Hub , a Made Smarter Innovation Network+, works on the uptake of digital technologies, including AI, by the manufacturing industry.

ESRC Education Research Programme works with researchers, teachers and policymakers to explore two themes: teachers, their role, their recruitment, retention and professional development the uses of technology for teaching and learning in UK schools Projects with a focus on AI for education include: Teaching for digital citizenship: digital ethics in the classroom and beyond Towards equity-focused EdTech Enhancing teacher agency with technology Behavioural Research UK is working with a range of partners to use technology effectively and efficiently to accelerate behavioural insights.

One of its priorities is to ensure that machine learning and AI systems in mobile apps for behaviour change are transparent and interpretable. The success of AI depends upon the availability of high-quality data. Major ESRC data infrastructure investments enable AI research by providing trusted access to large collections of high-quality data.

The investments include (among others): Administrative Data Research UK Consumer Data Research Centre ESRC is also carrying out a Data Infrastructure: AI review. This review explores current and future use of AI by ESRC’s data infrastructure investments.

We will gather examples of innovative uses of AI for the collection, management, processing, and curation of data, and the delivery of data services, including Trusted Research Environments. The review covers all activities undertaken by ESRC’s data programme investments across Data Strategy & Infrastructure, ADR-UK and SDR-UK.

Key questions include how data infrastructure investments are integrating AI tools into their operations, which tools are used and for what purposes, and how AI can enhance data services and data collections. This review promises to deliver actionable insights to guide ESRC’s support for investments, ensuring they are well-positioned to leverage AI advancements.

The joint ESRC and Innovate UK programme Next Generation Professional and Financial Services supports the professional service and financial service sectors to develop and use digital technologies. This includes: Technology in Professional Services the UK-wide AI for services network Responsible AI UK aims to enable artificial intelligence that is responsible, safe, trustworthy and benefits people in everyday life.

It includes two satellite projects: Responsible and trustworthy AI: economic landscape analysis The increasingly rapid advance of technology such as artificial intelligence is transforming the world in which we live. It provides huge benefits across the economy and society, from maximising the use of complex data to address global challenges and make ground-breaking discoveries, through to improving the efficiency of public services.

However, it also has the potential to cause damage and division, ranging from job loss to bias in decision-making, ‘fake news’ and threats to the foundations of the democratic process and national security.

Our role is to ensure that social science guides the development and adoption of AI in a way that identifies and amplifies its positive societal outcomes while exposing and mitigating potential harmful effects, to ensure responsible approaches to AI. This involves collaborating with a wide range of disciplines across the science base and combining fundamental research with public-facing and public policy-oriented work.

ESRC’s activities in AI are linked to: the current strategy Transforming our world with AI the Digital Society priority in our current delivery plan (2022 to 2025) Opportunities, support and resources available ESRC responsive mode: research grants round two (see ‘Highlight notice: AI for social science’ in the ‘What we’re looking for’ section) Past projects, outcomes and impact The next generation of AI services (impact story) Ask a question about this area of investment Email: productivityandgrowth@esrc.

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