Should the UK government be going all-in on artificial intelligence?
It certainly seems to be doing so after Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled a blueprint which he says will see the nation ‘win the global race’ on AI.
Describing the plan as a ‘marked move’ from the previous Conservative government’s approach of targeting AI with heavy regulation, the government said “the Prime Minister is throwing the full weight of Whitehall behind this industry”.
It has agreed to take forward all 50 recommendations set out by Matt Clifford in his AI Opportunities Action Plan review last year.
Its Plan for Change, which aims to deliver a decade of national renewal by turbocharging growth and boosting living standards, was welcomed by Alison Kay (pictured), vice president, UK and Ireland at Amazon Web Services.
AWS announced plans last year to invest £8 billion over the next five years building, operating and maintaining data centres in the UK.
“The government’s plan will play an important role in helping the UK to unlock the full potential of AI, and in doing so, boost productivity, enhance economic growth, and improve public services,” she said.
“By putting close industry collaboration and public-private partnership at the heart of the government’s agenda, every citizen, community and business in every region of the UK will have the opportunity to realise the benefits of AI, and thrive and grow.“
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AI at scale
Euan Blair, founder and CEO of Multiverse – and son of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair – was also positive on the plan.
The EdTech provides personalised, on-the-job learning for employees at more than 1,500 companies in the US & UK. Its focus areas include AI, tech and data skills.
“Being first to mass adoption is just as important as being first to innovation: we may have missed the first-mover advantage on LLMs and data centres, but it’s encouraging to see the UK government recognises its other unique opportunity: to be first to implement AI at scale,” said Blair.
He added: “None of the AI action plan can happen without a substantial investment in skills, since AI tools are only as powerful as the humans who wield them.”
Who’s the ref?
The government said the plan will ‘mainline AI into the veins of this enterprising nation by revolutionising public services and putting more money in people’s back pockets’.
However Dominic Wellington, enterprise architect at California tech firm SnapLogic, warned that “rushing untested initiatives to market is a risky endeavour, and the role of government should be to act as an impartial referee, not to join the fray”.
He offers as an example: “Recently, BBC data was repeatedly mis-summarised by Apple’s AI features, presenting people with distorted versions of news stories. The government can and should enforce safety in outcomes, and offer support to industry in achieving those goals.
“It can do this by mandating implementations of ‘guardrails’ in AI systems, and requiring their certification before they are deployed in particularly sensitive domains.
“Speed should not be the government’s own goal; instead it should focus on creating the conditions for private enterprise to operate at speed, and to do so without impacting the safety of users and citizens.”
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“The government’s plan, emphasising the transformative power of AI, leaves critical questions unanswered about how this huge transformation will be managed securely and responsibly,” she cautioned.
“Despite calls from leading AI academics for at least a third of AI spend to be invested into safety, it currently stands at less than 10% on average.
“If the UK truly wants to come first place in the AI race, it must prioritise safety alongside speed and innovation or the risks will certainly outpace the rewards.”
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Access to talent
Whilst there are plenty of routes open to global talent, it is the cost to businesses and individuals that continues to be a barrier, says global immigration lawyers and advisers Fragomen.
Partner Charlotte Wills said: “Whilst the UK has a reasonably straightforward visa regime with visa categories already open to AI talent, it is expensive.
“Typically, those requiring permission to come to the UK to work will use the sponsored regime (quick but expensive) or possibly Global Talent (slower, more complex but cheaper). Neither are wholly enticing for businesses investing in their tech talent.”
Her fellow partner Louise Haycock added: “Building an AI powerhouse needs, however, more than bold statements. Immigration is just one part of a complex decision-making process in choosing where to build an AI business.
“The wider regulatory, employment laws, tax, particularly the increase to employers’ national insurance contributions, and the funding environments are equally important.
“The current direction of travel in the UK in adopting robust regulation and taxation appears to be at odds with this move.”
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Growth Zones
The plan includes the creation of dedicated AI Growth Zones that speed up planning permission for AI infrastructure such as data centres and give these the necessary energy connections. The first of these will be in Culham, Oxfordshire.
Christian McCaffery, CTO at London-based cloud firm VeUP – which has a strategic partnership with AWS – said: “The AI Growth Zones in particular open the door for greater levels of collaboration and support, as the government looks to build new strategic partnerships with leading AI organisations.
“The UK’s bold AI ambition sets the tone for other regions across the globe, all with equal goals to drive technology advancement across different spheres of society. Regions like the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are armed with similar action plans to help drive initiatives like Saudi’s 2030 Vision.
“It’s clear that Silicon Valley – the long-standing epicentre of global innovation – faces fierce competition, now more than ever. The healthy competition between international powerhouses will only contribute to the global advancement towards unlocked sources of innovation.”
The AI blueprint comes as three major tech companies – Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl – have committed to £14 billion investment in the UK to build the AI infrastructure the UK needs to harness the potential of this technology and deliver 13,250 jobs across the UK.
Vantage Data Centres – which is working to build one of Europe’s largest data centre campuses in Wales – plans to invest over £12bn in data centres across the UK – creating over 11,500 jobs in the process.
Kyndryl – the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider and a leading IT consultancy – announces plans to create up to 1,000 AI-related jobs in Liverpool over the next three years.
Nscale – one of the UK’s leading AI companies – has announced a $2.5bn investment to support the UK’s data centre infrastructure over the next three years. They have also signed a contract to build the largest UK sovereign AI data centre in Loughton, Essex by 2026.