Greater adoption of agentic artificial intelligence could help rejuvenate Britain’s sluggish economy, according to business and technology leaders speaking at an AI summit held at the House of Lords.
The event, chaired by Steven George-Hilley, founder of Centropy PR, brought together senior figures from the technology, legal, financial services and cybersecurity sectors to examine how AI is reshaping economic growth, jobs and boardroom decision-making.
A central theme of the summit was the role of agentic AI systems, autonomous tools capable of acting on goals with minimal human intervention, in helping small and medium-sized enterprises access advanced capabilities that were previously out of reach. Speakers argued that AI-driven sales, customer management and decision-support systems could level the playing field for SMEs and unlock productivity gains across the economy.
Participants also warned of a looming “skills cliff edge” as AI adoption accelerates, particularly among smaller businesses that lack the resources to retrain staff at pace. Without targeted support, the UK risks widening the gap between large enterprises and the SME sector that underpins much of the economy, the summit heard.
Rupert Osborne, UK chief executive of Capital.com, said AI could play a crucial role in improving financial decision-making by making complex market data easier to understand.
“Used responsibly, AI can organise data, explain market movements and make uncertainty more visible, so decisions are informed by context and risk, not just price,” he said. “Many people default to traditional savings products because investing feels opaque or intimidating. AI can help form the building blocks of a more practical approach to financial literacy in the UK.”
Cybersecurity was also high on the agenda, with speakers stressing that AI-led transformation must be matched by robust safeguards.
Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point Software, said AI had the potential to transform public services such as healthcare and local government, but warned that security could not be an afterthought.
“We’ve already seen how ruthless hackers can be when it comes to targeting vulnerable organisations,” he said. “Cyber resilience must be built into AI strategies from the outset to ensure public trust and protect sensitive data as adoption accelerates.”
From a financial services perspective, Jan Tlaskal, chief data engineer at Galytix, argued that domain-specific, high-trust AI systems were becoming a strategic necessity.
“With geopolitical fragmentation, rising regulatory complexity and mounting compliance demands, agentic AI is not something to shy away from,” he said. “It is a strategic risk-management advantage that can improve data accuracy, enable faster investment decisions and support sustainable growth.”
The summit concluded that while AI will inevitably reshape jobs and workflows, agentic AI offers a significant opportunity to boost productivity and competitiveness, provided skills, security and responsible deployment are treated as core priorities rather than secondary concerns.
