North East Mayor says Reform's Gateshead arena AI review 'absurd'

A North East mayor has dismissed as "absurd" a local authority's decision to commission an artificial intelligence review of a major arena project, raising fresh questions about whether cost-cutting measures in Britain's cash-strapped municipalities are replacing human expertise with untested technology. The rebuke highlights a growing tension between councils desperate to trim budgets and critics who warn that deploying AI for consequential infrastructure decisions risks missing crucial local knowledge and accountability. The clash underscores a broader reckoning playing out across British government about the limits of algorithmic efficiency when communities' futures hang in the balance.

BBC·6d ago