Edinburgh MP Ian Murray wants to use his new government roles to spread the benefits of arts and technology to all
Former Scottish Secretary Ian Murray says he wants to use his new dual role in government to make sure both the arts and technology benefit everyone.
Mr Murray, Labour MP for Edinburgh South since 2010, lost his Cabinet post in charge of the Scotland Office in a reshuffle last September.
But after a backlash, he was handed two new jobs the following day - as minister of state in two different departments.
In the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) his remit is the creative industries, media and arts. And in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology he is responsible for digital government and data.
"It's going really well, I'm really enjoying it," he says. "It's really policy heavy - the Scotland Office didn’t have responsibility for direct policy in that sense - so I'm enjoying the policy side of it and they are two really interesting briefs.
"You can't get any more current than the media landscape, the BBC charter, the adoption of AI in government and digital ID."
And much of the work is directly relevant to Edinburgh.
"There's the film and TV sector; the gaming sector is very big in Edinburgh; and of course the arts is huge - Edinburgh is the centre of the world when it comes to August in terms of the arts.
"Then we've got the funding of the supercomputer for Edinburgh University; and Edinburgh University has had the AI institute since 1963 so they're right at the heart of the world's eco system in terms of tech and AI.
"There are huge connections to Edinburgh, so it's a really good, interesting portfolio from a local perspective as well."
He says he wants to make sure people from poorer areas are able to enjoy full access to the arts - an aspiration he says is shared by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
"I lived a 20 minute bus ride away from the Edinburgh festivals when I was growing up in Wester Hailes, but they might as well have been on the moon - our family thought the only thing the Edinburgh Festival had to do with us was making those buses late.
"How do you get arts for all? I know the Edinburgh Festivals have done a lot on this over the last decade-plus, but it's really about how to push that agenda forward.
"There's talent everywhere but there's not opportunity everywhere. And in a city like Edinburgh - with all it offers from media to the arts to tech - if I connect people and talent to the opportunities, it would be a major achievement."
On the technology side, Mr Murray acknowledges many people have "a bit tech anxiety".
"I think that's perfectly understandable because they see a lot of this through the lens of the big American tech companies and they don't necessarily see that as a positive thing.
"So I think it's up to me and my colleagues to have a better story to tell about how it's going to benefit people's lives and how it's going to transform them in a positive way; it's not just talking about Meta or Facebook or Google or YouTube.
"How do you make sure the average citizen is benefiting from AI and the tech boom? It's about modernising government, making sure we've got the most modern government in the world so citizens can feel they're part of it and able to communicate with it and get the best of it.
"But it's also just about making sure the opportunities are there for people. My daughter is five and I doubt that any of the jobs she's going to do when she's 20, or leaving university or whatever it is she does, have even been invented yet.
"So how do you keep people ahead of that, and keep the education system up to date enough?"
He also sees a key role for AI in education. "It could really help free up teachers time to do what they do best which is teach," he says.
"It could help those who are falling behind in the classroom to catch up, help with extra tutoring, help in the most deprived communities, and help with difficulties around learning that people may have.
"And where it is being trialled or used in classrooms attendance is up, attention rates are up, behaviour is better, our teachers are getting more time to teach."
Comparing his role now with his previous post, he says: "The Scotland Office is a tremendous department and I tried my best in the role to make it even more relevant, but it doesn't have any direct policy responsibilities. The new roles have really big policy responsibilities that are very relevant to people's lives. It's quite a big responsibility in that sense."