Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 23 August 2026
source“Bank of England insiders warn AI boom could push up interest rates in Britain”
R5/ 10
Selective
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates the Daily Mail's claim that "Bank of England insiders warn" AI could push up UK interest rates a 5/10 because the piece is a staff blog post explicitly flagged as not representing the Bank's view, and its actual lead author is the IMF's chief economist, not a BoE insider.
The Verdict
Selective. The conditional claim in the headline ("could push up") is fair and matches what the research says, but "insiders warn" overstates the institutional weight of an unofficial staff blog post and omits that the paper's most prominent author, Silvana Tenreyro, is the IMF's new chief economist contributing via her LSE role, not a current Bank insider.
What actually happened
A post on the Bank of England's Bank Underground blog, co-authored by BoE economist Jenny Chan alongside IMF chief economist Silvana Tenreyro and doctoral researcher Ludovica Ambrosino, argued that anticipated AI productivity gains could push demand ahead of actual supply, creating inflationary pressure that central banks might need to counter by tightening policy. The blog draws a parallel with the 1990s tech boom, when computerisation lifted productivity but also fuelled demand and wage growth.
Key facts
- The post appeared on Bank Underground, "a forum for BoE staff to share views which do not necessarily reflect the central bank's official view."
- The research was co-written by Tenreyro with BoE economist Jenny Chan and doctoral researcher Ludovica Ambrosino, and Tenreyro is "a member of the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee from 2017 to 2023," now the IMF's chief economist, contributing "in her role as a professor at the London School of Economics."
- The core mechanism cited: "Business investment and household spending (can) both move ahead of realised productivity gains, as many argue is happening now with investment in AI infrastructure."
- The article's own quoted line from the blog is conditional, not a flat warning: "households and businesses expect productivity to rise in the future, they anticipate higher future incomes and profits, which changes behaviour today… They may start spending and investing before those gains actually materialise."
- The Mail's own body copy correctly labels it a post on the central bank's "unofficial blog Bank Underground."
What to watch for
Watch whether follow-up coverage names Tenreyro as the paper's lead voice, since framing this as a "BoE insiders" warning rather than an IMF economist's academic contribution changes how much institutional weight it should carry. Also watch for whether the services-versus-exports distinction in the underlying research (which the Mail's piece omits entirely) resurfaces, since the paper's own nuance is that productivity gains in services could just as easily lower inflation.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
