Eight technology predictions for the 2020s

By Areeq Chowdhury. Welcome to the 2020s - a decade which will no doubt see technology continuing to transform society. What changes can we expect to have witnessed by the time we reach the year...

Machine Manifesto 2019

By Anna Pick. As the UK General Election (#GE2019) approaches, what should politicians be doing to maximise the opportunities and minimise the risks of advances in AI and digital technologies?...

Deepfakes - press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Think tank deploys deepfakes of Johnson and Corbyn to send warning on disinformation Deepfakes depicting Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn endorsing each other for Prime...

Even in these unpredictable times, politicians are still predictable creatures

By Kirsty McNeill. I’m far from an apologist for this current crop of politicians. I’ve written elsewhere about the seven trends undermining our democracy and I’m as angry as anyone about the...

Digital health in low and lower-middle-income countries - new report

By Anna Pick. Future Advocacy’s latest report, Digital Health in Low and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LLMICs) was published today. Funded by the Pathways for Prosperity Commission, the report...

Beyond the headlines: what the media missed from the Chief Medical Officer’s report on child health

By Cath Elliston. We all know that the media can be misleading sometimes, and reporting around young people’s health is no exception. But that means that all of us—the public, business,...

It’s time to evolve from an ‘open’ internet towards a ‘civil’ one

By Areeq Chowdhury. As the modern world’s closest and largest realisation of an anarchic society, it should come as no surprise that the internet is in a chaotic, ungovernable, and dangerous...

Going the extra mile with AI

By Nika Strukelj. Artificial intelligence can be a great asset to the world’s toolkit for addressing some of the 21st century’s greatest challenges, including climate change. The recent paper...

Artificial intelligence and the NHS: What could it look like?

By Areeq Chowdhury. It can often feel as though artificial intelligence (AI) is over-hyped or misapplied in society, but in healthcare it can have a huge positive impact. The announcement that the...

Mind over matter? AI, Feminism and the Body

By Anna Pick. Many AI researchers aim to design machines that replicate or surpass human intelligence. But what counts as ‘intelligence’ is a contentious issue. Dominant strains of computer...

FaceApp, deepfakes, and why we should be worried

By Areeq Chowdhury. How much would you sell your face for? According to the millions of people who have been using FaceApp in recent weeks (myself included) the price is the ability to stare into...

Urgent need for action as global hunger increases for third year

By Anna Pick. Yesterday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations launched its third annual report on ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI,...

Alexa, how do we kill the anti-vax movement?

By Areeq Chowdhury. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization listed ‘vaccine hesitancy’ amongst Ebola and climate change, as one of the top 10 ten threats to global health in 2019....

Hiring Head of Think Tank!

THIS POSITION IS NOW CLOSED     We are creating an exciting new leadership role at Future Advocacy!  We are looking for a 'Head of Think Tank' focusing on the impact of Artificial...

We've contributed to the Chief Medical Officer's Annual Report!

Future Advocacy has co-authored Chapter 13 of the Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report, which considers what the state of the public’s health in England in 2040 could look like. The report...

Olly Buston - AI Influencer

Deep Knowledge Analytics, the Big Innovation Centre, and the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) on AI have produced a report summarising all the publicly available data on the AI industry in the UK....

Forgetting ourselves

It’s a funny old time of the year. Mustard yellow leaves stick to our shoes wherever we walk, a perpetual reminder of the looming winter and darkness. As we mark Halloween and All Saints’ Day, we...

On the Edge

The handover problem “In the moments before the collision, which occurred at 9:27 a.m. on Friday, March 23rd, Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to...

Chapter 2 of the UK Government’s Child Obesity Strategy: “A Plan for Action” that needs swift action and no more planning

A month ago, the government announced their ambition to halve numbers of children with obesity by 2030. It’s a big target that demands action across the board to redesign our food environment....

Happy 70th birthday NHS: is your new app worth the candle?

If you wake up with worrying symptoms, the anxiety of getting through to book a GP appointment or hearing that the wait is two weeks long is the last thing you need. As we celebrate the 70th birthday...

Most likely to win the World Cup: Brazil, Germany, Spain or… an apple?

Two summers ago, we discussed four ways AI was used at the Rio Olympics, and so we thought we’d perform a similar exercise for the World Cup. Considering how fickle the matches have been so far...

Canaries in the coal mine

Today we’re launching an interactive heat map presenting the results of our research which predicted the impact of AI-fuelled automation in individual parliamentary constituencies in England,...

AI in health: icing or sponge?

It’s become a truism to say that the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is moving fast, but the pace of change in thinking around AI in health has been breathtaking. Since my last blog on this in...

Campaign Win! Sadiq’s Junk Food Ad Ban on London Transport

With great power, comes great responsibility. As Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan heads up the Transport for London advertising estate - the most valuable advertising estate in the world. The images and...

I, Doctor Robot

I have a confession to make. In my last few years of working as an NHS hospital doctor, I became convinced robots would make better doctors than human beings. In part, this followed from guilt at...

Artificial Intelligence Must Be For All - Including Developing Countries

The list of tech failures in development is long.  Whether it be drone pilots getting in the way of emergency relief in Nepal, or computers gathering dust in Indian schools because teachers don’t...

Olly's AI Holiday Reading List

A big thank you to everyone who suggested great things for my holiday reading list.  The criteria was “Books or articles published in 2017 that focus on the social, economic, and political impact...

Will Artificial Intelligence Squash Democracy Or Make Elections Fairer?

The UK election this Thursday will be shaped by artificial intelligence. Voters will be swayed by this technology without even knowing it. Artificial intelligence is being used to fake vocal...

Want to join our team?

Careers at Future Advocacy We currently don't have any vacancies but come back soon. You can also email us at info@futureadvocacy.com. THIS VACANCY HAS NOW CLOSED WE'RE HIRING A RESEARCH, ADVOCACY,...

Press Release: Response To UK Government's Digital Strategy

Government does not yet have serious plan to deal with massive disruption AI will bring to employment.   Olly Buston, CEO of think tank Future Advocacy said: “We welcome the...

Wanted: National Treasure To Lead New Deal On Data

As we go about our lives we generate vast quantities of data.  We produce so much data, in fact, that it is impossible to store, let alone analyse.  The proliferation of this data will continue as...

4 Ways Artificial Intelligence Was Used At The Rio Olympics

1. AI playlist prepared wrestlers The US Olympic wrestling team listened to music composed by artificial intelligence to prepare for their matches. Created by Brain.fm, the music is designed to...

Robotics, AI And The Power Of The Public: A Review Of Evidence To The UK Science And Technology Select Committee Inquiry

The UK Science and Technology Select Committee is currently undertaking an inquiry into robotics and artificial intelligence, aiming to publish a report on its findings in September. In the meantime,...

Remain: For A Better Britain And A Better World

I’ve spent most of my career over the last 20 years lobbying and campaigning on things that for me fit broadly into the category of “trying to make the world a better place”. While this may...

Written Evidence For The Robotics And AI Select Committee Inquiry

Future Advocacy is pleased that the UK Science and Technology Select Committee has launched an inquiry into Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. You can see our full written submission to the...

Early Childhood Development: A New Alliance

Yesterday World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake announced a new alliance around early childhood development (ECD) that aims to make investments in the...

Alphago And AI: The State Of Play

In what many are seeing as a major breakthrough, Google Deepmind's AI system, AlphaGo, beat Lee Se-dol, the world’s greatest Go player of the last decade on Tuesday 15th March 2016. The final...

Key Players In Making Sure That AI Development Is Positive

Are these the key players in making sure that the development of artificial intelligence is positive for humanity? Who's missing? Tweet us with your suggestions @FutureAdvocacy

Need To Know In 2016: 3 Common Misconceptions About AI

2015 was the year of panic about AI, and 2016 is set to be the year of AI. Artificial Intelligence has crept up on us during this century, and now it’s everywhere. Yet, it remains alien and...

Brave And Bold Action Needed From David Cameron On Childhood Obesity And Sugar

For months the Health Select Committee has reviewed all the evidence about how best to tackle the UK’s child obesity crisis. Their comprehensive and powerful report launched today “Childhood...