The chairman of the Alan Turing Institute told the BBC that a series of serious allegations that rocked the organization over the summer were “unfounded”.
In August, whistleblowers accused the charity's management of misusing public funds, overseeing a “toxic internal culture” and failing to fulfill its mission.
They said the Turing Institute, the UK's national body for artificial intelligence (AI), was on the brink of collapse after Peter Kyle, the then technology secretary, threatened to withdraw £100 million of its funding.
But speaking exclusively to the BBC, the doctor's chairman, Doug Gurr, said the whistleblower allegations were “independently investigated” by a third party, which found them to be “irrelevant”.
“I fully sympathize with the fact that any transition period is always difficult,” he said.
“It hasn't been easy for a lot of people and a number of issues have been raised.
“Each of them was independently investigated and we found no substance.”
He did not identify the third party conducting the investigation.
But Turing's woes go beyond the allegations themselves: three senior directors, the chief technology officer and, most recently, the chief executive have all left their jobs.
The matter is also being investigated by the Charity Commission and Dr Gurr has given no indication that he would consider withdrawing if the Commission concludes there are problems.
Instead, he said he loves his job and is proud of what the organization has accomplished during his tenure.
Dr Gurr admitted it had been a “difficult” period for some staff but said he believed Turing was now “fit”.
“There are two really special things about the UK,” he said.
“We have fantastic talent and incredible data sets – let’s get busy and focus on the areas that really matter.”
He said he sympathized with employees who criticized their workplaces under his leadership, but did not apologize.
And he agreed with Kyle, who is now business secretary, that the Institute should focus on defense, but added that it would continue to pursue other projects focusing on the environment, sustainability and health.
Current projects include improving the accuracy of weather forecasts, reducing emissions from transportation, and cardiac research on the human heart using digital twins.
Questions remain about how much overlap there will be between the Turing Institute's new leadership and other UK agencies doing similar work, such as UKRI and MOD, in addition to commercial technology firms.
Dr Gurr acknowledged that her defense work, which includes research into how best to protect the UK's national critical infrastructure, was “not alone” but said she was responding to the call at a difficult time.
“The world has probably become a much more dangerous place in the last couple of years,” he said.
“I think the other thing that becomes very clear when you look at some of the theaters of conflict around the world is that data and technology have an increasingly important role to play in any form of warfare.
“Turing has a lot of experience working in these spaces.”
But the first whistleblowers, who still continue to work in the organization, believe that the institute's reputation has been “torn” after recent events.
They spoke to me on condition of anonymity because they are afraid of losing their jobs.
“This is not a new chapter for Turing,” they said.
“It’s the same words under a new title.”
