Vallance appointed chair of prime minister’s new AI taskforce

Oh, brilliant. The UK has appointed Patrick Vallance — the man who got us the vaccines — to chair a new AI taskforce. Because obviously, if anyone can tame the silicon beast, it's the guy who handled the last global emergency with a mix of scientific acumen and polite government memos. The taskforce will 'drive the overall strategy on AI' and report directly to the prime minister. Yes, because nothing says 'ruthless oversight' like a committee that answers to a prime minister whose average tenure is roughly the shelf life of a yogurt.

Vallance will get to produce reports, likely with lots of bullet points and recommendations, which will then be gently placed on a shelf next to the other 47 AI policy documents gathering dust. The taskforce is 'new,' which means it has no track record, no enforcement powers, and no budget allocation mentioned. So essentially, it's a press release with a meeting schedule.

But hey, at least they're taking it seriously — seriously enough to hire one person to 'drive strategy.' The rest of us can just wait for the model that doesn't need a taskforce to outthink the entire government.