Alan Turing Institute scraps diversity drive under pressure from ministers
The initiative from The Alan Turing Institute, which last year was handed £100m in taxpayer funding, had aimed to get more women into science and promote 'equity in the data science and AI fields'.
However, the programme has now been axed following a review by the organisation's board amid calls for it to focus increasingly on defence.
The decision means the institute will no longer have a mandate to investigate 'diversity and inclusion in online and physical workplace cultures', while it will also end inquiries into how 'social bias' risks being built into machine learning systems.
It comes just days after Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, urged the institute to 'reform'.
In a letter to Doug Gurr, the former Amazon executive who is now chairman of the organisation's board of trustees, Mr Kyle said it must 'evolve and adapt' to 'prioritise its defence, national security and sovereign capabilities'.
Drift from core mission
Originally launched by David Cameron in 2015, the institute has come under growing scrutiny after it was awarded the £100m government funding.
This week, a report from British Progress argued the organisation had 'lost its way' and needed 'major reform'.
The think tank said the institute had a 'fragmented and thinly spread research portfolio' and that it had been 'susceptible to mission creep'.
The report added: 'The most significant example of this has been its drift away from its core technical mission toward work rooted in social and political critique.'
British Progress warned that, if it failed to reform, there would be grounds to 'decommission the institute entirely'.
While the institute has made moves towards reforming its research, its staff have also criticised its allegedly chaotic management and a lack of diversity in senior roles.
Last year, more than 180 staff signed a letter questioning its decision to hire four top male academics, as they criticised a 'trend of limited diversity within the institute's senior scientific leadership'.
In December, The Telegraph reported that external consultants had raised concerns from staff about 'tokenism' and 'nepotism' at the institute, warning of 'pervasive issues of low morale'.
That month, staff also sent a no-confidence letter to its leadership team and board, warning it had been left 'rudderless'.
The scrapping of the gender representation scheme comes amid a wider retreat across the technology sector, with many businesses rowing back on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies after Donald Trump's return to the White House.
The institute was named after the Second World War computer scientist Alan Turing, who was persecuted for his homosexuality.
The mathematician, who died in 1954, led Britain's codebreakers at Bletchley Park and helped to design a machine to crack Nazi Germany's Enigma messages.
Yet in recent years, the institute has been dogged by concerns that it missed out on the emergence of a new wave of technology.
In 2023, a report from the Tony Blair Institute argued it had 'not kept the UK at the cutting edge of international AI developments '.
A spokesman for the institute said it was in the process of reviewing 100 projects, two of which had been axed.
They added: 'We're shaping a new phase for the institute focused on delivering real-world impact against society's biggest challenges and will respond to the national need to double down on our work in defence, national security and sovereign capabilities.'
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