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This has been a really incredible session. There have been a lot of very interesting answers. I am also intrigued to figure out which time zones you are in: the sun has been setting for Dex and has been rising for Kayla-Megan, and that has been interesting to watch. There are some very interesting things that we will definitely want to follow up on, so thank you very much for your time—I was about to say this morning, but this evening or this morning, whichever is applicable to you.

First, as somebody who graduated with a degree in philosophy 26 years ago, I say thank you very much to Kayla-Megan Burns for validating my educational choices.

I will ask Dex Hunter-Torricke a brief supplementary question. I am interested in the notion that AI tips economies of scale on their head. How far do you take the points that you set out? In 20 years’ time, to what extent will organisations be just one person configuring AI tools around them? How far will that go? I absolutely accept that you will see businesses like that, but will all businesses be like that? What will a sensible organisation look like in size and—more critically—in configuration? Will that be about how well you specify things? If we take the coding example, to get good code out of the AI, you still need to give it the right specification. Is that what the core function of an organisation will be? How far will this go? What will the functions be at the heart of organisations that seek to use AI?

I have one final question. Steve Aitken, you said something quite interesting about trust. The reason why it is particularly interesting to me is that it aligned with something that I encountered recently. It also relates to things that Leo Fakhrul was saying.

I was in Singapore, and I met Enterprise Singapore there. It is always interesting, and I like looking at different Governments and their policies and their agencies. However, all too often they come up with the same stuff, and, as sure as eggs is eggs, there were a lot of things that I recognised. The people I met name-checked life sciences, they name-checked space and they name-checked AI. Those are all their growth sectors. So far, so good—you could replicate those anywhere else and, indeed, they were slightly surprised that Scotland was focusing on the same things, too; they had not realised it. What was interesting was that one of their domains for growth was the trust economy, and that replaced two things: financial services and what we would probably normally put as tech. I thought that that was quite interesting, because it was identifying something that is more essential. Rather than how you are doing things, it is what the underlying point is.

You are right. I think that there are some elements there about Scotland and trust. What are the things that you think make Scotland a place that can focus on trust and how could we build a trust economy in Scotland? What might that look like if we wanted to outcompete Singapore on that?

Good morning, and welcome to the 32nd meeting in 2025 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee.

This morning, we will be considering two Scottish statutory instruments before taking further evidence as part of our work on artificial intelligence. To begin, I note apologies from Sarah Boyack, Lorna Slater and Stephen Kerr.

I welcome Ivan McKee, Minister for Public Finance, and—online—I welcome Alasdair Hamilton, procurement policy portfolio manager, and Jess Gray, lawyer, from the Scottish Government. They will present on the SSI, and I invite Ivan McKee to make a short opening statement.

Terrific. I would like to bring in Willie Coffey.

We move now to agenda item 3, which is hearing evidence on cross-border public procurement regulations. I invite the minister to make a short opening statement.

Under agenda item 5 we will continue our evidence sessions on artificial intelligence. We are pleased to have two panels this morning, the first of which consists of Dex Hunter-Torricke, strategic communications adviser and former head of communications at SpaceX and current head of executive communications at Facebook, and Kayla-Megan Burns, tech founder and board member at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, both of whom are attending online.

I would like to begin by asking you both whether you think we are getting it right with regard to how we understand artificial intelligence and the skills that we seek to instil in young people and the wider population. Much of the discussion is about losing jobs and workers being displaced, but I slightly shudder when my daughters come home from school telling me that they are being told that they must not use any AI whatsoever.

My sense is that we should be thinking about what we can use AI for. What are the right questions and the right ways to use it? How we can use AI to maximise our skills and knowledge and the expertise of the wider workforce? What should we be doing to give people the right skills to maximise the use of AI? Dex Hunter-Torricke, I noticed you nodding. Can I bring you in on that question?

Good. We will be interested in exploring the number of strands that you have laid out.

Kayla-Megan Burns, I am mindful that my deputy convener, Michelle Thomson, would like to talk more in depth about the arts, but can I ask you a similar question on skills? From an artistic point of view, what sorts of skills should we be thinking about? Are there as many possibilities as there are risks when you are considering the arts more generally?

I have a question for the minister. For clarity, does the instrument mean that Iraqi firms need to be given equal consideration when bidding for public work, and vice versa for Scottish firms in Iraq? In practical terms, looking at the balance of trade and the industrial and economic base of both countries, are there likely to be Iraqi firms that bid? Has there been any analysis of that?

Likewise, what might the opportunities be for Scottish firms to bid for public contracts in Iraq?

As members have no questions, we will move on to agenda item 4, which is formal consideration of the SSI. I remind members that only members and the minister may take part in this section. I invite the minister to speak to and move motion S6M-19428.

Motion moved,

That the Economy and Fair Work Committee recommends that the Cross-Border Public Procurement (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 [draft] be approved.—[Ivan McKee]

Motion agreed to.