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It's not a foul thing that the UK is embracing artificial intelligence. Who doesn't want more technology that may diagnose cancer, fix potholes and stop bank card fraud? Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's big plan announced on Monday is due to this fact helpful. But his goal of creating the country a “world leader” requires greater than just servers, algorithms and enthusiasm.
The government's plan to embed AI within the country's blood vessels has three parts. It's about constructing infrastructure, using AI to make the country more economically dynamic, and creating homegrown champions who, in keeping with the plan, will turn into “doers” quite than “takers.”
The first part amounts to some type of modest economic stimulus. In the U.S., data centers have impacted thousands and thousands of jobs—though such facilities aren't exactly labor-intensive once they're up and running. In a recent study, the trading group Tech UK counted 43,500 British data center jobs. That could double in a decade, they estimated, nevertheless it's still small.
Monetizing the UK's “intangible” infrastructure, for instance by making the UK's public data assets available for training large language models, is more worthwhile if privacy will be protected and is already making some entrepreneurs' mouths water.
The second pillar of Starmer’s strategy – using AI – is a must. From the NHS to UK banks and retailers, there are huge opportunities to extend productivity by processing data and delivering faster results.
Getting the private sector to cooperate is a challenge. Previous governments have highlighted the risks of AI, so corporations will need time to adapt. The British Chambers of Commerce discovered this last 12 months 4 out of ten corporations had “no plans” to introduce any specific AI technology.
As all the time, the query lurks within the background: Where is Britain's Google? While DeepMind, the search engine's AI sister, was born within the UK and is a frontrunner in its field, there continues to be no corresponding to OpenAI, Elon Musk's xAI or Anthropic. When it involves unlisted “unicorns” with valuations of greater than $1 billion, the UK does well – but only well. This speaks to Starmer's third promise.
Still, there is no such thing as a approach to compete with America's large pools of capital. While businesses are taking shape within the UK, the revenue, business talent and skill to take corporations public can’t be replicated within the US. The UK's largest technology investment so far is the $1 billion raised by autonomous driving company Wayve last 12 months. In comparison, U.S.-based corporations OpenAI and xAI have each raised $6 billion in recent months.
This makes the concept of making a homegrown OpenAI, Google, Facebook or Tesla far-fetched. Becoming more doer than taker yourself looks ambitious. But attempting to beat superpowers like China and the US at their very own game is a recipe for misallocation of capital – each financial and political. Half an AI hub is best than none.
