Kanishka Narayan has become the first British minister dedicated to artificial intelligence to attend Cabinet meetings, elevating the technology’s influence at the center of U.K. government decision-making.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham asked Narayan to attend Cabinet while retaining him as minister for AI, placing the politician at the table where the government’s most important economic and national policy decisions are discussed.
Narayan previously served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for AI and online safety under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He was appointed to that position on September 7, 2025, after entering Parliament little more than a year earlier.
The latest change does not necessarily make Narayan a full secretary of state. However, regularly attending Cabinet gives the AI portfolio greater visibility and creates a more direct route for the technology to influence government-wide policy.
Narayan said the prime minister’s decision reflected the importance being attached to AI and described it as potentially the most significant technology in human history.
Cabinet role elevated
Narayan said countries had only a limited period in which to decide whether they would shape the development of artificial intelligence or allow the technology to shape them.
He pledged to approach the position with speed and ambition while concentrating on strengthening Britain’s influence over the direction of AI development.
His responsibilities have included AI opportunities, the AI Security Institute, semiconductors, technology-led economic growth, the Intellectual Property Office and online safety, according to his official U.K. government profile.
The broad portfolio places Narayan at the intersection of economic policy, research, investment, digital regulation, intellectual property, cybersecurity and the protection of internet users.
His promotion came as Burnham began reorganizing the government after becoming prime minister on July 20, 2026. Burnham returned to Parliament in June, became Labour leader on July 16 and was invited by King Charles III to form a government four days later, according to his official biography.
Technology departments reorganized
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is being dissolved under the restructuring, according to Sifted’s report on the government changes.
Science and innovation functions are expected to move into a broader department combining business, innovation, science and trade. Jonathan Reynolds was appointed to lead the expanded department after previously serving as business and trade secretary and subsequently as chief whip.
The reorganization brings scientific research, innovation policy and commercial development more closely together, potentially giving technology companies a more direct connection to the government’s wider growth and industrial agenda.
Responsibility for digital transformation and online harms is expected to move to an expanded Culture Department. This would separate parts of Narayan’s previous online-safety brief from the economic and strategic AI portfolio.
Narayan’s attendance at Cabinet provides a dedicated channel for AI policy even as responsibility for technology is distributed across several government departments.
The new structure reflects the growing impact of AI on areas extending beyond the traditional technology sector, including employment, public services, national security, healthcare, education and industrial competitiveness.
From Bihar to Wales
Narayan was born in Bihar, India, and moved to Cardiff with his family at the age of 12. His family initially lived in a modest one-bedroom apartment in Bedford Street, within walking distance of Cathays High School.
He attended Cathays for one year before securing scholarship and bursary support to study at Eton College. He later studied philosophy, politics and economics at Balliol College, Oxford, before completing a Master of Business Administration at Stanford University.
Narayan has repeatedly connected his support for social mobility with the contrast between the educational opportunities available at the different institutions he attended.
Before entering Parliament, he worked in government, finance and venture capital. His experience included working as an economist and adviser in the Cabinet Office, contributing to environmental policy and advising businesses through investment bank Lazard.
He subsequently worked at Clocktower Ventures, an American venture capital firm focused on financial technology and related areas, giving him direct experience with startups, investment and emerging technologies.
Historic election victory
Narayan entered Parliament after winning the Vale of Glamorgan constituency for Labour in the July 2024 general election. His victory returned the constituency to Labour after 14 years of Conservative representation.
The result also made him the first Westminster MP from an ethnic-minority background elected to represent a Welsh constituency.
The election serves as a significant moment in Welsh political history. Narayan said at the time that he hoped his election would inspire others and demonstrate that opportunity should not be determined by background.
He joined the Labour Party at the age of 18 and established Attain Wales, a mentoring initiative intended to help state-school students pursue places at leading universities.
After entering Parliament, Narayan served as a parliamentary private secretary supporting the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before receiving the AI and online-safety brief in September 2025.
Narayan said he would bring the perspective of his Welsh constituency to his expanded role, describing Wales as a nation with industrial ambition and a history of exerting influence beyond its size.
AI strategy advances
Narayan inherits a substantial program of AI investment and institutional development. The government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan progress report said 38 of its 50 commitments had been completed by January 2026.
The plan focuses on establishing infrastructure for AI development, encouraging adoption across the economy and strengthening domestically developed technology. Progress included the designation of five AI Growth Zones, expansion of public computing resources and work to unlock government datasets through the National Data Library.
The government also launched Isambard-AI at the University of Bristol and committed up to GBP250 million to expand cloud capacity supporting the national AI Research Resource.
Britain is now seeking an organization to host its next national AI supercomputer. The GBP750 million (over $1 billion) infrastructure investment is expected to support frontier research, large-scale AI inference, scientific discovery and public-sector applications.
The scale of these commitments means Narayan’s Cabinet attendance comes as decisions about computing power, energy, data centers and research funding increasingly affect Britain’s broader economic strategy.
Supporting British companies
Another major component of the government’s strategy is Sovereign AI, a GBP500 million initiative designed to support promising British artificial intelligence companies.
The government-backed program combines investment with access to computing infrastructure and institutional support. Its objective is to help companies start in Britain, expand internationally and retain a significant presence in the country.
The government has argued that Britain must become a producer of strategically important AI systems rather than relying almost entirely on technologies developed elsewhere.
Sovereign AI has supported initiatives related to drug discovery, lower-cost computing and infrastructure intended to strengthen domestic capabilities. The program uses equity investment, allowing the state to participate in potential financial returns rather than relying exclusively on grants.
Narayan’s previous venture-capital experience could prove relevant as the government attempts to select companies with strategic potential while balancing commercial risk, national security and public value.
Research and security
In March 2026, the government announced up to GBP40 million for a new research laboratory focused on fundamental AI challenges.
The government-backed AI laboratory will investigate problems including hallucinations, limited memory and unpredictable model behavior. Researchers will also receive access to large-scale computing resources.
Narayan said at the time that long-term investment in British researchers was important if future AI breakthroughs were to be developed in the UK.
Security is another central part of his portfolio. The U.K. AI Security Institute studies the capabilities and potential risks of advanced systems, including their possible use in cyberattacks and their ability to assist defensive operations.
Britain and Australia signed an AI security cooperation agreement in May 2026. Their specialist institutes agreed to exchange research, track the capabilities of frontier models and collaborate on evaluation practices.
Narayan’s expanded access to Cabinet could help connect that technical work more directly with decisions involving national security, infrastructure and international cooperation.
Skills and regulation
The government is also pursuing a target of providing AI skills training to 10 million U.K. workers by 2030.
The AI Skills Boost program was expanded from an earlier target of 7.5 million people. It is intended to prepare employees for the growing use of AI across workplaces while supporting productivity and helping workers adapt to changing roles.
Narayan will also face unresolved regulatory questions involving copyright, online safety, model security and accountability for harmful uses of AI.
Responsibility for the Intellectual Property Office has placed him close to debates over the use of copyrighted books, music, journalism, images and other creative material to train AI systems.
His Cabinet attendance signals that the Burnham government wants artificial intelligence considered across its economic agenda rather than handled only as a specialist technology issue.
The test will be whether the elevated role translates into consistent policy across investment, skills, research, infrastructure, safety and regulation while responsibilities are redistributed through the government’s new departmental structure.
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