This week, the UK appointed its first AI minister, India-born Member of Parliament Kanishka Narayan. Narayan was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar before moving to Cardiff, Wales as a 12-year-old.
On Thursday, Google AI chief Demis Hassabis, a Nobel laureate and one of the most respected names in the artificial intelligence world lauded Narayan's appointment.
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"Congratulations @KanishkaNarayan on your new role as UK's AI Minister in the Cabinet, great news for the UK AI ecosystem!," Hassabis wrote on X. Hassabis, a UK citizen, is the son of immigrant parents himself.
According to Narayan the first call he made after taking on the role of the UK's AI minister was to Hassabis on turning "British advantage into British jobs." He did not elaborate on the call further.
Both Narayan and Hassabis had a humble, working-class upbringing. Narayan has often talked about his immigrant parents' struggles in the UK, working minimum-wage and night-shift jobs.
Kanishka Narayan's Journey
Narayan was always bright, having secured a transfer to one of Britain's most prestigious schools, Eton College, from a state-funded Cardiff school, on a scholarship. He went on to earn his undergraduate degree from the hallowed Oxford University, studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics, before getting an MBA from the prestigious Stanford University in the US.
Inspired by his family's experience as immigrants and a desire to improve public services, Narayan joined the Labour Party. Narayan's parliamentary career took off in 2022 when he was selected as Labour's candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. Although he narrowly lost the seat in that year's general election, he remained active within the party. After the Labour party returned to power, Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed him Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This week, he was promoted to AI Minister, becoming the first person to hold the newly created role.
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