London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has warned that AI could usher in a new era of mass unemployment if governments, businesses, and regulators fail to act quickly to properly control the technology.
To help rectify the situation, the mayor has unveiled plans for free AI skills training and a new taskforce aimed at protecting jobs in the capital.
Speaking at the annual London government dinner at Mansion House, Sir Sadiq said AI risked becoming a “weapon of mass destruction of jobs” if political leaders failed to step in with stronger regulation and large-scale skills reform. While he argued that the technology has the potential to transform public services and boost productivity, he cautioned that its rapid and largely unregulated growth could leave many workers behind.
London facing the brunt of AI disruption
“The impact of AI on London’s labour market will be nothing short of colossal,” the mayor said, adding that even this assessment may underestimate the scale of change ahead. Without action, he warned, old jobs could disappear faster than new ones are created.
According to Sky News reports, the mayor argued that London is particularly exposed to the upcoming changes due to the industries that dominate its economic profile. Sectors like finance, professional services, and the creative industries are all expected to experience the impact of automation and generative AI sooner and more intensely than others.
Unlike previous technological revolutions, Sir Sadiq said, it will not only affect manual or routine work, but white-collar and knowledge-based jobs as well. Entry-level office jobs and graduate positions are likely to be among the first to go, potentially cutting off an important route into work for young people. According to the BBC, polling conducted by City Hall last November found that 56% of London workers expect AI to affect their job within the next year.
Free AI training and a city-wide taskforce
Of course, two things can be true at once, especially when it comes to AI’s future impact. While AI can have adverse effects when unregulated, Sir Sadiq stressed that the technology does not have to result in widespread job losses. Used responsibly, he said, it could “turbocharge productivity”, improve cancer care, help tackle the climate crisis, and ease pressure on public services.
As part of his response, the mayor announced plans to offer free AI skills training to all Londoners, alongside the creation of a London Taskforce on AI. The taskforce would bring together experts from government, business, the skills sector, and the tech industry to assess how the technology is impacting work, and make recommendations on embedding AI across every industry in the capital.
Sir Sadiq said the aim was to ensure AI skills are built “at every level in our workforce” and that the next generation is equipped with the right AI skills tools needed to thrive, at a time when research suggests around 70% of the skills used in the average job could change by 2030.
Calls for regulation and learning from social media mistakes
Alongside skills reform, the mayor called for a tougher, faster crackdown on AI regulation. He pointed to the “social media revolution” as a cautionary tale, insinuating that a lack of early guardrails contributed to a youth mental health crisis and a surge in online abuse.
His comments come at a time of growing concern over the misuse of AI tools to create nonconsensual sexualised deepfake images, including a controversy that unfolded just this week involving Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot. Ofcom is currently investigating potential breaches of UK rules, while X has announced new restrictions on how the tool can be used.
Sir Sadiq said ethical values must be “hardwired into the code” of technologies developed in London. However, public response to the mayor’s announcement has been mixed. While some commenters discussing the move on Reddit question the specifics of how the government plans to “actively shape” AI’s ongoing development, others are skeptical about how it aims to acquire the funding for its objectives.
Government response and the road ahead
The national government has been operating on a more positive note, arguing that AI will also create new roles and opportunities. A Downing Street spokesperson said ministers plan to train 7.5 million workers, around a fifth of the UK’s entire workforce, in essential AI skills over the coming years, alongside new short courses for businesses launching this spring.
For Sir Sadiq, however, optimism alone is not enough. AI, he said, represents a moral, social, and economic test. The challenge for London and the UK is to harness its potential while ensuring that change is managed in a way that benefits everyone and protects workers from being left behind in a technological transformation that could redefine the world of work.
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