Links between senior UK politicians and the artificial intelligence industry are facing scrutiny as the government pursues its goal of making the UK an AI superpower. A report by Scottish daily The National said current and former politicians have received donations, hospitality, advisory positions or jobs from AI and broader technology companies. The House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee is examining the issue, while Labour MP Alex Sobel warned that major technology companies could use their buying power to weaken regulation. Former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has part-time senior advisory roles with Anthropic and Microsoft. His Anthropic role carries estimated annual compensation of approximately £373,000 in shares for about 70 hours of work, more than twice the roughly £167,000 salary of the UK Prime Minister. Sunak remains MP for Richmond and Northallerton and has pledged to donate compensation from both roles to The Richmond Project, the numeracy and social-mobility charity he founded with his wife, Akshata Murty. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which reviews post-government jobs, said Sunak’s positions could potentially provide unfair access and influence because of his significant interest in UK Government policy. He is barred from UK policy work or lobbying for either company for two years after leaving office and said his Anthropic work would be internally focused. Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change, funded primarily by US tech billionaire Larry Ellison and also by companies including Amazon and Microsoft, has advised the Treasury on using AI across government. Former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne joined OpenAI to lead its international expansion, while former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg previously ran public policy for Meta and is now an AI investor. Current MP Tom Tugendhat holds a paid advisory role with AI-powered insights firm Brox.ai. Acoba judged the risk that the role would be seen as a reward for decisions made in office to be low, but imposed a two-year ban on lobbying the UK government for the company. The scrutiny comes amid reports that Labour government ministers have held more than 200 meetings with Silicon Valley firms in less than two years.