The CEO of the UK’s national institute for AI has resigned after months of internal unrest and mounting pressure over its future direction.
Dr Jean Innes (pictured), who took the helm of the Alan Turing Institute in July 2023, confirmed she was stepping down from her role at the organisation last week.
She described it as “a great honour to lead the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence” but admitted that “now is the right time for new leadership”.
Her exit comes after then-Technology Secretary Peter Kyle warned that the institute risked losing its £100m public funding unless it pivoted more heavily towards defence. Kyle has since moved to the role of Secretary of State for Business and Trade as part of a cabinet reshuffle following the resignation of Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister.
The institute has also encountered staff discontent which led to a whistleblowing complaint to the Charity Commission.
A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: “The technology secretary has been clear on the need for the institute to deliver value for money and maximum impact for taxpayers, and we will continue our work to support that ambition.”
The Turing Institute confirmed its board is now seeking a new chief executive to lead ‘the next phase’, with an increased focus on defence, national security and sovereign capabilities.
One sector insider told BusinessCloud: “We’ve been working with them for a little bit, but it’s impossible because they’re just threatening people with redundancies.
“There seems to be a fair bit of bullying going on and no movement forward. They’re not involving people externally and designing things like frameworks or standards.
“This is not just Turing. This is the entire AI ecosystem in government. It is basically getting run by egos and people who can put their name to it.”
They claimed that the institute had “granted itself money to do projects… that have never happened” and argued it had become “a charade” which universities used to draw down grants.
“It has just granted itself money to do these projects that, based on the ones that I’ve been involved in, have never happened,” they added.
“So the money has just been getting taken out of taxpayers’ pockets, put into the universities that are in the Turing and then nothing’s been happening.”
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The source was also critical of the institute’s proposed pivot into defence.
They questioned: “How are they qualified to do military AI? That’s what DSTL (The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory) does. That’s what I do when I go and consult.
“The Turing’s got no business being in military AI, they’re not security cleared, they’re not competent. They don’t know anything about the area.”
They described a difficult working environment, saying staff had been repeatedly warned of redundancy and that projects had stalled.
“The person that I’ve been trying to work with has just been told he’s getting made redundant three times, then he’s been off for six months,” they explained.
“It’s that type of culture. There’s absolutely nothing happening there at all. People are just sitting around not doing very much.”
Despite the leadership change, the insider was sceptical about whether anything will improve.
They said: “It’s either that or they’re going to claim that that’s them taking some accountability.
“Then they might say, ‘let’s bring somebody new in that’s going to reinvigorate the whole thing’ and then they’ll do Turing 2.0 which is basically just the same thing.
“Nothing has changed.”
They also questioned the morality of those in power at the institute when they added: “If one person like little old me can put all this effort in, then the Turing can do a hell of a lot more than me.
“So why are we rowing? Why are we doing ego stuff? Why are we politicking? Just get on with it. But these people are just not that type.
“They’re all politicians. It’s all about ego and trying to make sure they can get their next job and getting their profile up, and it’s pathetic.
“Honestly, every single day with these people it’s the same.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s a mess behind the scenes.”
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