UK AI strategy

Update: August 6, 2023

UK AI strategyThe UK has launched its first National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy  with plans to launch a programme to support R&D, publish a white paper on the governance and regulation of AI to build confidence in its use and support organisations to capitalise on the power of AI technologies.

The UK is ranked third in the world for private venture capital investment into AI companies (2019 investment into the UK reached almost £2.5 billion) and home to a third of Europe’s total AI companies.

“We welcome the Government’s AI strategy because we believe AI can be used for the good of society,” says Rolls- Royce CEO Warren East, “for Rolls-Royce, it’s critical to our net zero ambitions, the sustainability of our business and helping our customers. We’ve shared our AI breakthroughs in a free ethics and trustworthiness toolkit called The Aletheia Framework, and are collaborating with other sectors so we can improve together and help build trust in AI.”

Alongside measures to develop the next generation of AI talent through continued support for postgraduate learning, retraining and making sure children from wide backgrounds can access specialist courses, the strategy will position the UK as a global leader in raising the standards around the use of the technology while building the case for deeper investor confidence. It includes plans to:

  • Launch a National AI Research and Innovation Programme to improve coordination and collaboration between the country’s researchers and help transform the UK’s AI capabilities, while boosting business and public sector adoption of AI technologies and their ability to take them to market.

  • Support the government’s levelling up agenda by launching a joint Office for AI (OAI) and UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) programme aimed at continuing to develop AI in sectors based outside of London and the South East. This would focus on the commercialisation of ideas and could see, for example, the government focusing investment, researchers and developers to work in areas which currently do not use much AI technology but have great potential, such as energy and farming.

  • Publish a joint review with UKRI into the availability and capacity of computing power for UK researchers and organisations, including the physical hardware needed to drive a major roll out in AI technologies. The review will also consider wider needs for the commercialisation and deployment of AI, including its environmental impacts.

  • Launch a consultation on copyright and patents for AI through the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to make sure the UK is capitalising on the ideas it generates and that there is clarity in what and who determines copyright. This could include, for example, in situations where a creator was a machine rather than a human or if an algorithm used someone else’s patent.

  • Trialing an AI Standards Hub to coordinate UK engagement in setting the rules globally, and working with The Alan Turing Institute to update guidance on AI ethics and safety in the public sector and create practical tools to make sure the technology is used ethically.