UK splits science and digital portfolios, elevates AI minister
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has dismantled the UK's dedicated tech department, scattering its responsibilities across Whitehall in a move that risks fragmenting the country's AI strategy just as it seeks to compete globally.
The UK government has abolished the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) just three years after its creation. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has divided its responsibilities between two enlarged departments and a new central cabinet office. The reshuffle effectively ends Britain's experiment with a single, unified tech ministry.
Science, innovation and emerging technology portfolios have been absorbed into a newly expanded Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST). Led by Finance Minister Jonathan Reynolds, DBIST will now oversee the Sovereign AI unit, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). By bringing the Investment Security Unit into this fold, the government is merging research policy directly with industrial strategy and commercialisation.
The digital infrastructure portfolio, meanwhile, has been reassigned to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This department will now manage online safety, cyber resilience, telecoms, digital inclusion and digital identity. The government's broader digital transformation efforts, including the Gov.UK platform, will also fall under DCMS jurisdiction.
Rather than diminishing AI's prominence, the government has elevated it to the highest levels of decision-making. AI minister Kanishka Narayan will now attend cabinet and work jointly between DBIST and the newly created Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC). The AI Security Institute (AISI) is also moving into the cabinet. This structural shift signals that artificial intelligence is now treated as a core cross-government priority, akin to national security or economic strategy.
However, the breakup of DSIT has created immediate policy gaps that will concern European partners and international investors. The government has not yet clarified which department holds responsibility for data protection, the National Data Library or oversight of the Information Commissioner's Office. Crucially, ownership of AI regulation remains unassigned, even though responsibility for AI strategy, adoption and safety has been distributed.
Ministers argue these changes put technology at the heart of government by aligning science with economic policy and digital services with communications. For the UK's startup ecosystem, however, the structural changes are less important than how effectively the new apparatus functions. With artificial intelligence, science and digital policy now split across different parts of Whitehall, inter-departmental coordination will dictate whether this reshuffle accelerates or stalls Britain's tech agenda.
