Bank of England (BoE) governor Andrew Bailey has revealed he does not believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a “mass destroyer of jobs”.

Instead, he said UK financial firms are seeing the “great potential” of the technology and the significant AI investments the BoE has made in the past year.

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Speaking to the BBC, Bailey said: “I’m an economic historian, before I became a central banker.

“Economies adapt, jobs adapt, and we learn to work with it. And I think, you get a better result by people with machines than with machines on their own. So I’m an optimist.”

The news comes as The House of Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee revealed the “UK will miss AI goldrush unless the government adopts a more positive vision.”

The report claimed the government’s approach to AI and large language models (LLMs) has “become too focused on a narrow view of AI safety“.

House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee, Chairman, Baroness Stowell of Beeston, said: “The rapid development of AI Large Language Models is likely to have a profound effect on society, comparable to the introduction of the internet.

“That makes it vital for the government to get its approach right and not miss out on opportunities – particularly not if this is out of caution for far-off and improbable risks.”

She added: “We need to address risks in order to be able to take advantage of the opportunities – but we need to be proportionate and practical. We must avoid the UK missing out on a potential AI goldrush.”