Met gets extension to AI project after Sadiq Khan blocked deal
London's Metropolitan Police has received a 12-month extension to continue its pilot with data analytics firm Palantir, weeks after Mayor Sadiq Khan blocked a £50 million long-term contract. The extension allows the force to keep the project running while it conducts a formal procurement process for a permanent supplier.
Why this matters: The mayor blocked a £50m deal, and the Met got a year-long extension anyway. That is worth sitting with. Palantir builds tools that help governments analyze people at scale. The Met wants to use that to automate intelligence work in criminal investigations — meaning decisions about who gets scrutinized could increasingly run through private software with limited public visibility. The procurement process might produce a different supplier or it might just lead back to the same place. Either way, Londoners should know what data flows into these systems and what checks exist on how the outputs get used.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy
This summary is AI-assisted and may contain errors. It is an original briefing to help you gauge significance quickly — not a reproduction of the source. Always read the linked original before relying on it. See our methodology.