♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you. life well planned. brook: these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. i'm thriving by helping others everyday. people who know, know bdo.

narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc news". christian: --ben: i'n thompson. you're watching the context on bbc news. >> it's a good day for patients. it will allow us to move forward now that the nhs has ratified this deal. >> just be careful about claiming this as a success in favor of industrial action.

nurses do remain in dispute of this government, . >> it was unbalanced, less risky, and a better way of getting more money in pockets and pay packets sooner. ♪ ben: hello, welcome to the program. more than one million nhs staff in england are to get a 5% pay rise and a one-off cash payment of 1600 pounds aer unions accepted the government's offer on pay. the unions representing some hospital staff have not accepted the deal, meaning there could be more strikes ahead. also on the program tonight, we will bring you a shocking piece from afghanistan, where around 167 children are dying from

preventable diseases every day. and we will take a look at one of the godfathers of ai, artificial intelligence. warnings that chat bots like chat gpt could become much smarter than humans. and let's head to wrexham, where a huge parade after the club got a promotion back into the english football league. first, to the pay deal between the government and the nurse s, u.k. health secretary steve barkley said he was happy the deal has been accepted. >> they will benefit from this pay rise, 5000 pounds for underscore paramedic or midwife, and a good day for patients. now that the council has ratified this deal, it has been accepted by the majority of the

council and we can now move forward, focused together on patients and ensure that staff get a pay rise sooner than would have been the case under then the process. >> some unions are particularly happy about this, meaning strikes will probably keep going. is this the final offer or are you going back to the negotiating table? >> this is the final offer, and this is important to recognize the decision. it was negotiated collectively and the rcn were at the negotiating table. this deal was recommended to their own members, so it's important that everyone respect the decision of the nhs staff counsel. it's an opportunity to come together. there are further areas where we can work collaboratively in terms of some of the non-pay issues we discussed during the negotiations. it's a good day fhsoraties, andn opportunity to get the pay and

the staff's pay packets next month and for everyone to move forward together. ben: that's the view there from the u.k. health secretary, but the deal has not been accepted by all of the nurses unions. the royal college of nursing was one of the unions that rejected the deal. it's general secretary warned it will continue to pursue strike action if necessary. >> they will have to get back around the table again. we represent thousands of nurses in the nhs and their voice cannot be ignored. we do intend to bail out our members in may. that will close in june. we could see, as we have said, unfortunately strike action up until christmas if there is not a better deal on the table. the nursing staff need to be able to have more nursing staff join the profession and we need to hold onto the nurses we've got. we want people to do that for our patients and the health

service if we don't get a better deal. ben: let's turn now to elaine sparks, the assistant director at the charter society of physiotherapy and represented them at the negotiating table for one of the many unions that agreed to today's deal. thank you for being with us on the program. a 5% pay increase and a one-off lump sum -- is this a good deal? >> today there was a clear majority decision from the trade unions to accept the offer on the table. we do feel that it is a good way forward. we can now hopefully get money into the pay packets of health care staff, which is much needed . it the perfect deal? no. i don't think we would say that and certainly there are members in the society o physiotherapy that have said clearly, there is some reluctance, a strong reluctance in accepting this. it doesn't deal with all the

issues around inflation, it doesn't deal with all the issues around retention. but there is a deal of unbalance we felt we could recommend to members. members have agreed to accept it and it does mean we can move forward on that basis now. ben: you say it is not a perfect deal. it has caused months of disruption, this dispute. could it, should it have been resolved sooner? >> definitely. this is a lesson we would ask the government to think on and reflect on. these were talks that could have started much earlier in the process. we were asking for talks months ago, because we knew the pay award that happened in may 20 2, 23, was not as much with the cost-of-living rising as much as it did. it did take several months.

i think that is something the government does need to reflect on. we need to think about the fact that we could have gotten to this position much earlier run and not had the disruption that we have had. ben: the rcn says it will continue to pursue strike action. do you expect there will be growing pressure on them now to accept a similar pay deal to put an end, finally, to those months of disruption? >> the unions across the health service represent over one million staff. as been said, there are 14 unions in total. it is not unusual for us to not be able to reach a unanimous position. on this occasion, it is a majority decision, not a unanimous decision. rcn and other unions who have rejected will need to decide how they then take that forward. that's not for me to say, but

it's not unusual that we've all got our own democratic processes to follow, we all consult with our members, so coming out with different outcomes is something that we are not unused to. ben: what this does do is throw the spotlight once again onto the health service as a whole. some bigger issues -- particularly around things like recruitment and retention. one hopes this will help in some way to address that, but do you think it is enough? >> no. i would not say this would be enough to deal with the recruitment-retention crisis. i think pay is a key part of recruiting and retaining staff. it's not the only issue. one of t things we need to do is take some of the non-pay issues within this offer package that may also help recruitment and retention, but also its

future years. we need to get a better means of setting pay. we need to settle the recruitment and retention pressures withinhe nhs and need a long-term strike to make sure we are actually addressing those. ben: what does that strategy look like? what needs to change to address those fundamental issues around recruitment? >> there are a number of things that can be done. one of the things that will be taken forward is looking at career progression, looking at things like apprenticeships and how we support people better within the service who are taking on apprenticeships. we have also identified that we need to review the pacesettg process for the future -- pacesetting -- pay setting process for the future. these are part of a longer-term strategy that will help address these issues. ben: elaine, it's good to hear

from you. thank you for being with us on the program tonight. elaine sparks, joining us to discuss the pay deal that is finally settling those strikes, or some of the strikes in the uk's national health service. in sudan, the united nations is warning for the escalating humanitarian crisis there could cause more than 400,000 peoe to flee. 300,000 people have been internally displaced and 100,000 have already crossed the border from sudan into nato -- neighboring countries. fighting continues in the capital, despite promises of a cease-fire. ships arrived in germany and saudi arabia on monday, with 300 evacuees on the ship, including 100 u.s. citizens. flights for british nationals left on monday, and those able to leave art also taking

boats. more than half have now been evacuated. here is our correspondent paul adams. >> tens of thousands of sudanese civilians have fled the country, north to egypt, west to chad, south to south sudan, and a larger number have been on the move inside the country. we have a situation already in which 100,000 to 150,000 people have been displaced. the u.n. is warning that the number could drastically increase, up to 800,000 or more if the military situation is not brought under control. we have concerted international efforts to try and get the two generals leaving these -- leading these rival armies to sit down around a table or send representatives to sit down around a table and discuss their differences. u.n. has indicated that both sides have nominated people to

have that discussion, but there are no arrangements yet for a venue or an agenda. the talks could happen, but there is no sign of them happening imminently. the other thing happening, of course, the international community is looking at this humanitarian crisis and anticipating that it could get a whole lot worse. there are efforts to galvanize the relief effort to make sure that aid flows into places like north sudan, so it can be distributed to the places where it is most needed. in order to get it to the places where it is most needed and the people running out of food, hospitals that are not functioning properly, the situation on the ground has to be brought under some kind of control. political talks at this point are absolutely vital. ben: our diplomatic correspondent paul adams. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news.

♪ >> look at this bay. it is absolutely beautiful today, and we have to be 100% sure before we do anything that could damage this beautiful environment. >> a canadian environmental com pany plans on pumping in hydroxide through a pipe. it has the community concerned, with the question, why here? the cornice coast -- cornish coast provides ideal conditions, because the water is shallow and turbulent and the current keeps water near the surface for a long time. a small trial took place last autumn, and the environmental agency has asked for more information on the impact on

this project. the company's pls for a may for june trial are looking uncertain. ben: the man widely seen as the godfather of artificial intelligence has quit his job at google, warning of the dangers of ai. ? dr. jeffrey hinton's work has paved the way for current ai systems like chat gpt, but dr. hinton says he now regrets his work and is worried that ai technology will flood the internet with misinformation. google has responded, saying "we remain committed to a responsible approach to ai." dr. hinton has been telling the bbc, these systems know so much. >> the intligence we are developing is different from the intelligence we have. these are biological systems -- we are biological systems, and

these are digital systems. the difference is with digital systems, you have is different copies of the same set of weights, the model of the world, and these copies can learn separately but share their knowledge instantly. it's if you had 10,000 people, and when one person learn something, everyone automatically knew it. that's how these chats can no more than any one person. ben: dr. hinton also told the bbc that the rate of progress is worrying. >> right now, what we are seeing is things like gpt four, which eclipses a person in the amount of general knowledge it has, and equips his them in a long way. in terms of reasoning, it is not as good, but it does not do simple reasoning. given the rate of progress, we expect things to get better quite fast, so we need to worry about that. right now, they are not very intelligent, as far as i can

tell, but i think they soon might be. ben: let's talk now to david barber, dective of ucl's center for artificial intelligence. welcome to the program. i want to pick up on that last thought from jeffrey hinton. he said right now, they are not more intelligent than us, as far as i can tell. i think soon, maybe. does that scare you or excite you? >> a little bit of both, i think. it's very exciting from a researcher's perspective. this is something we have been working towards for a long time, making these machines intelligent in this way. the right of progress is a little bit scary. the last two years, i would say, we have seen amazing developments with that. that is a little bit scary. but i am not yet losing too much sleep over it. i think it's not quite at the

stage that i am really, really concerned about it, but i do think we need to be careful about how we deal with this, and i think having more public debates like this is a useful part of that discussion. ben: i want to come onto the education element in just a second, because that will play a key role here. but when you talk about the benefits and risks, where is the balance right now? do the benefits still, at the moment, outweigh the risks? >> i think so. ai is pretty pervasive in our lives right now. you may not necessarily see it, but it is used a lot in applications like search on the internet, or mobile phones, compressing and sending signals. we are certainly benefiting from that. there are other ways, like when we go to the bank,

recommendations about films online, etc. we are benefiting from it, but could benefit even more in the future with things like health care or automatic algorithms which could make diagnoses for various diseases, which are more accurate than a human being could do. they could potentially work longer hours and not as -- not be as tired as a doctor would be. there is an increasing realization that we need to think more carefully about the applications of some of these systems, but there is a great usefulness to these systems. it is cautious that we do not throw the baby out with the bathwater and say it is all bad, or all worrying, but there is an ongoing debate about making sure whatever we do do is ultimately beneficial for society. ben: and ultimately there are calls for greater

regulation, but some would prefer to develop this at pace and others that say it is not keeping up with cases --♪ changes in technology. is there a danger we put too many rules in place to stifle competition and innovation? ultimate, does it become self-defeating? >> it's hard to say. we are very early in this debate, but i think it's difficult because you, for example, take something like self driving cars. where will that technology be produced? not necessarily in the u.k., maybe some foreign country where the regulatory framework is a little bit different. but economic pressure comes in -- if everyone wants a self-driving car, what do you do? you either have to buy these systems or develop them.

you have to be realistic in the sense that the world is moving with these technologies, and there are some applications that are great. the other potential applications , maybe not so great, but we are not going to lose out in terms of innovation. ben: and it comes to the point you raised at the start about education, an open discussion about what these technologies can deliver. i wonder if we are more aware of what the possibilities are, less fearful of what it could do? >> i think so, yeah. a few years ago, there was a less subtle debate. people were worried about this terminator kind of doomsday scenario. but people have recognized that ai can be very, very helpful. we have seen these systems, chat gpt style systems and systems that can generate images,

videos, these are interesting developments. they will also play a role in our everyday working lives, helping us write emails and do searches, maybe even automating some of the things we might do at work, some of the rather boring processes, like invoice processing, for example. that might all be done by a computer. there are definitely great things coming, but have we got the whole thing correct? is it really bad? i don't know. but the public, i would hope they are starting to see in therworking and data lies something else. it is moving from a doomsday scenario to something a little bit more informed, there is great potential, economic and societal benefit to the systems as well. ben:essoof u's p center for

artificial intelligence. it's a fascinating subject. david, thank you. the energy giant bp made $5 billion, 4 billion pounds in profit for the first three months of the year, down sharply from the same time last year. the company has faced renewed criticism in the u.k. over the size of its profits when people are struggling to afford their energy bills. the government has imposed an additional levy on firms, but bp says most of its profits came from outside of the u.k., meaning it only paid an extra $300 million in tax. let's talk to our guest about this -- thank you for being with us. let's start the beginning. how is bp making so much money? >> we have seen large increases in gas and oil prices over the

last year, and bp has done well in oil and gas trading and its refinery business. ben: and there are growing calls that as a u. company, it should be paying a greater proportion of tax, because it is making these profits on the back of a windfall. that does not seem to be the case, because it says it makes most of that outside of the u.k.. >> that's right. i have some issues with this description of windfall profits. oil and gas are liquid commodities. they have significant periods of depressed prices, and about 60% of the wells are dry and companies do not get compensated for that. when they have poor years, they don't get subsidized, but people want to impose additional taxes when they have good years. ben: but a windfall tax is a tax levied on an unse -- an

excessive or large profit said to be unethically obtained. if you run a business through your energy bills, it's not fair that one company can do so well out of it while others are struggling, and that is the issue, isn't it? >> bp isn't responsible for that. the war in ukraine is primarily responsible for that. when they have poor years, they don't get additional support for that. i think we need to look at this in a broader way. the larger problem with the windfall tax as it applies to oil and gas in the u.k., it is this incentivizing north sea exploration and production, meaning our imports will have to grow on the climate change committee's thoroughly ambitious net zero policy. oil and gas will decline at a slower rate in domestic production, meaning imports will grow. ben: and would they move their

jurisd -- their businesses to jurisdictions where they would have to pay less tax? >> the largest of those is harbor energy, which announced job losses and job cuts in aberdeen in response to the windfall tax and said it will pivot towards international operations as a result. ben: how long can prices stay this high? do we expect that there will be a fall in wholesale prices? we might see these sorts of profits ever again? >> profits have been declining quite steadily. gas prices peaked in august and have been coming down consistently since then. they are about as low as they were at the time of the ukraine invasion. we need to see enough new upstream projects coming online around the world to offset the gas produced in russia, and that

will take another two to three years to happen. as we move through that time, prices would be stabilizing. it's difficult in the labor markets, so it doesn't operate in quite such a freeway as the gas market does. ben: cathe narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. brook: these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. i'm thriving by helping others everyday. people who know, know bdo.