Dan Howl

Professionalism must be the foundation for trust and adoption of new technology With public services at the forefront of the deployment of AI, Dan Howl of BCS explains why ‘trust must not only be done, it must be seen to be done’ A noticeable shift is taking place across t...

I've written in Public Technology today about a notable shift to higher standards in tech.

www.publictechnology.net/2026/02/05/e...

Polish Courage in the Digital Age Poland continues to press ahead with a 3% Digital Services Tax (DST), despite pressure from Washington D.C. A public consultation launched this week signals a sense of urgency.

Poland is standing up to both Russia and the US.

Necessity is forcing it to make decisions that other European countries haven't faced up to yet.

open.substack.com/pub/danhowl/...

AI Opportunities Action Plan - 2026 Progress Progress on ramping up AI adoption across the UK to boost economic growth, provide jobs for the future and improve people's everyday lives

delivery.ai.gov.uk

The ambition is now to make Britain the “best adopter” of AI in the G7. People need to trust AI first, that’s the baseline. Once they do, they'll expect more: smarter, faster, better services, which will in turn generate adoption.

She also noted that Britain’s AI sector is growing at 25x the rate of the rest of the economy. In the US, AI investment (mostly in software) already contributes noticeably to GDP growth, so the UK has room to scale, but must avoid hype and build adoption sustainably.

Listening to Liz Kendall at Bloomberg yesterday, it was also very clear that she thinks being third to China and the US isn't something to settle for.

A new dashboard released today by 10 Downing Street and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology shows the progress made on AI in the last year. It's interesting and interactive (link below).

The Politics Behind Britain’s New AI Push How geopolitics, state power and workers shape the UK’s AI strategy

Britain is parking its AI tanks on the White House Lawn.

Some thoughts after listening to Liz Kendall yesterday.

open.substack.com/pub/danhowl/...

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Brazil’s Bolsonaro finds novel way to reduce 27-year sentence: reading books Former president convicted for coup plot to take advantage of law that knocks four days off jail term for each book read

Given his 27 year sentence, Bolsonaro just needs to read 2,464 books and then he can go home.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Given his 27 year sentence, Bolsonaro just needs to read 2,464 books to walk free.

'Trust, not speed, will decide whether Britain’s AI ambitions succeed' - LabourList Without clear accountability and trusted assurance, AI innovation risks losing public confidence before it can deliver lasting value.

Professionalising AI is how we turn promise into impact, and how we drive standards so that AI abuse can’t happen.

I’m in LabourList today talking about how we do that.

labourlist.org/2026/01/trus...

#AI #Tech #Grok

'Trust, not speed, will decide whether Britain’s AI ambitions succeed' - LabourList Without clear accountability and trusted assurance, AI innovation risks losing public confidence before it can deliver lasting value.

labourlist.org/2026/01/trus...

Great to hear from the Minister for AI & Online Safety, Kanishka Narayan MP last night at Labour Tech, discussing not least the importance of tech sovereignty.

Thanks to Lewis Bailey (@lewisbailey.org), Adam Allnutt @adamallnutt.bsky.social)and the rest of the team for putting on a great event.

I think it also affects people’s experiences. People should go to London to just have a nice time and enjoy the West End without having doubts or fears.

£7 a pint is definitely unsafe.

Very interesting polling out today - Starmer very well placed when compared to named alternatives.

This is far more relevant than looking at the simple polls on Starmer’s (relative) unpopularity in a vacuum - you can’t vote for ‘Not Starmer’.

Great game to watch. Rogers and Bogarde had very good performances. Hopefully Kamara is fine…

7 million people in the UK used X daily in May 2025 (down from 9 million two years earlier) for an average of 6 minutes a day (down from 10 minutes two years earlier)

Government ministers are misinformed so dramatically overestimate/exaggerate its reach & usage compared to other media

At least everything has gone smoothly since.

“In the UK, the social media site recorded a 58.3% fall in revenues from £69.1m in 2023 to £28.9m last year

Pre-tax profits plunged from £2.2m to £767,000 year-on-year.”

One of the most powerful Trade Unions in the US is proposing a wealth tax on billionaires in California.

A one off 5% tax on those worth more than $1Bn.

That's ~200 people who hold $2 trillion in wealth.

It's supported by the representative for Silicon Valley but opposed by Governor Gavin Newson.

Interesting point made about prioritising Facebook over twitter.

Labour focus on Fb much more during election campaigns and it’s much more effective at reaching actual voters.

The Grok issue was so dangerous because so many users on Twitter didn’t sign up to be on that kind of site.

Millions of people signed up over the years to engage with friends, follow celebrities and be part of something normal.

And now they’re being exposed to content that can cause real harm.

Sounds like a very good proposal. This has been a real problem for a long time.

Very good point. It stopped Iain Dale’s fledgling candidacy.

Unai will be loving the level of control at least.

Beyond Silicon Valley: Why Starmer should look to Europe, not just California, to secure Britain’s digital future.

It’s good to see (some) European solidarity today.

My solitary Substack was about why Britain should look to Europe, not just California for tech answers.

Beyond Silicon Valley:
substack.com/@danhowl/not...