News imagePolitical Thinking with Nick Robinson, 'We can't leave it to tech bros and oligarchs': AI minister Kanishka Narayan

Political Thinking with Nick Robinson

'We can't leave it to tech bros and oligarchs': AI minister Kanishka Narayan

24 October 2026

Available for over a year

From a childhood in India, to a new seat at Andy Burnham's cabinet table: what has shaped the man who is now tasked with shaping the UK's response to the world of AI?

How did Kanishka Narayan go from sleeping on the floor in his family's one-bed flat in Cardiff, to Eton and Silicon Valley?

Why does he think the UK can have an outsized voice on the world stage when it comes to global AI cooperation?

And is he scared, daunted or excited by something that he says "exceeds the industrial revolution"?

--------

Send us your thoughts, reactions, questions and suggestions to politicalthinking@bbc.co.uk

Senior Producer: Daniel Kraemer

Producer: Flora Murray

Sound: Steve Pontin and Hal Haines

Editor: Jonathan Brunert