Downing Street has said the Prime Minister writes “most of his own speeches” after an aide was photographed using ChatGPT while preparing his address to the Welsh Labour conference.
One of Andy Burnham’s team was pictured asking the AI tool to make the Saturday speech “a little more emotive”. The image, published by the Mail on Sunday, appears to show the speechwriter drinking Prosecco while editing the speech on an afternoon train from London Euston to Holyhead.
No 10 responds to ChatGPT report
A No 10 spokesperson said: “The PM writes most of his own speeches. An aide sought feedback on a speech draft that had already been written.”
It is understood that the ChatGPT suggestions were not ultimately used.
Speech themes and Thatcher criticism
According to the Mail, the chatbot had written: “I prefer the second (passage). It moves from the miners to their families to the wider community, showing how the experience of industrial work created bonds well beyond the workplace.”
Mr Burnham used his speech on Saturday to speak about the importance of “industry” in giving people a “deep sense of belonging”, describing the workplaces in Wales that “created a way of life, the social infrastructure that we took for granted, the working men’s clubs, the sports teams, the choirs, the trade unions”.
Criticising Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, he said the country “took some wrong turns in the 1980s that shattered the way of life for communities up and down Britain”.
“Economic power privatised, political power centralised and, overall, a loss of agency in places up and down Britain,” he said.
“The mines closed, factories closed, steelworks silenced. It was felt everywhere.
“And, you know, that has kind of left us for 40 years in a place where communities haven’t had the power that they needed to turn things around.”
