Despite trying to make the UK the centre of AI regulation the government doesn’t have a credible plan to tackle digital exclusion, a parliamentary committee has warned.

The Communications and Digital Committee said that high levels of digital exclusion, which is being exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis, were a direct result of “political lethargy”.

The comments come as the parliamentary group publishes a report which says that by "failing to take decisive action", the government is allowing millions of citizens to fall behind.

The research reveals that four million people in the UK are still unable to complete a single basic digital task to get online, while five million workers will be acutely under skilled in basic digital skills by 2030.

The report also found that seven million households do not currently have broadband or mobile internet access, while one million people have cut back or cancelled their internet packages in the last year due to affordability issues.

According to the Committee, digital exclusion has led to a significant blow to the UK economy, with £63 billion lost each year to digital skills shortages.

“The Government has bold ambitions to make the UK a technology superpower and centre of AI development, but we can’t deliver an exciting digital future when five million workers are under skilled in digital and nearly two and half million people still can’t complete a single basic digital task,” said Baroness Stowell of Beeston, chair of the committee. “Tackling digital exclusion isn’t as sexy as searching for the next tech unicorn, but we can’t compete as a global player without getting the basics right.”

The Committee also warned that the growing use of machine learning in public and private sector services will further disadvantage digitally excluded groups, who are often poorly represented in datasets and could face further marginalisation as a result.

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