The ONS sets out how it intends to measure AI in the UK economy
Serguey Asael Shinder1 min readThe Office for National Statistics published a methodology release at 09:30 on 21 September 2026 setting out how it intends to build a thematic account for artificial intelligence in the UK economy: what a thematic account is, the approach the ONS is taking, and how it helps measure the impact of AI.
The sentence to notice is the one at the end: "These are not official statistics."
What it means
A thematic account is an attempt to see something the standard accounts cannot. The national accounts are organised by industry and by product. Activity like AI cuts across both — it is bought by a bank, built by a software firm, embedded in a machine tool. A thematic account re-cuts the same underlying data around the theme, which is how tourism and the environment are already measured.
The label matters more than the method, for now. "Not official statistics" means the output is published for scrutiny rather than for use — it has not been through the assessment that makes a number quotable in a policy argument. Anyone citing an AI figure from this account in the next year should cite it with that label attached.
For a rates desk the interest is second-order and real. If AI is going to be argued about in terms of productivity — and it will be, in every central bank speech — the argument needs a measured quantity. This is the beginning of one, and it is worth knowing how it is constructed before the first number arrives.
⚠ This is a methodology release, not an estimate. There is no AI contribution to GDP in it, and nothing here says when there will be.