AI Opportunities Action Plan
On the 13th of January 2025 the Government published their paper on the “AI Action Plan”. Soon after this, the government then released their response to the ‘AI Action plan’ with the following report, the governments response . You can access GlobalAILaw’s article on this here.
1- Lay the Foundations to enable AI
As part of the first action within the ‘AI Action Plan’ the Department of Science and Technology has expressed their intention to enhance our foundations of technology to support the demands of AI innovation. With AI expanding at a uncontrollable rate, data centres are needed to house the large and complex computers needed to train AI. The availability of powerful computing is also useful in attracting talent needed for innovation. Under this action plan, the government must secure a sufficient supply of compute. This should consist of sovereign compute, domestic compute, international compute. The plan lists recommendations for the Government to achieve this, these are:
1. Set out, within 6 months, a long-term plan for the UK’s AI infrastructure needs, backed by a 10-year investment commitment
2. Expand the capacity of the AI Research Resource (AIRR) by at least 20x by 2030 – starting within 6 months.
3- Strategically allocate sovereign compute by appointing mission-focused “AIRR programme directors” with significant autonomy.
With these recommendations met, the UK could then become one of the world leaders in AI. These 3 acts hold the necessary components for innovation for long term AI success. As mentioned, implementing these also prints the UK as an AI devoted nation and is therefore much more likely to be considered by the top AI talent.
Change Lives by Embracing AI
The following action is centred around the large scale adoption of AI. It is believed that in order for the Government to fully meet its AI Missions, we must ensure that AI becomes the core of how we think. Whether that’s delivering services or improving productivity or even strengthening our foundations with data, skills and talent- AI must be the core of it all. So, to meet this we must all embrace the adoption of AI.
In order to ensure the large scale adoption of AI across the public sector, the Government are looking to implement a “Scan>Pilot>Scale” approach in order to “move fast and learn things.” Listed below
Alongside this, the government is also looking to address private sector adoption. The UK economy could grow by 400 billion if AI is successfully adopted into the workforce. This statistic highlights the potential for AI to enhance international competitiveness, whilst also unlocking new growth opportunities across the economy.
Furthermore, this action includes recommendations for the Government to consider in meeting this action plan:
- Leverage the new industrial strategy- The development of a new industrial strategy presents an opportunity to drive collective action to support AI adoption across the economy
- Appoint AI sector Champions in key industries like the life sciences, financial services, and the creative industries to work with industry and government and develop AI adoption plans
- Drive AI adoption across the whole country.
Secure our Future with homegrown AI
The following chapter of this Action Plan, stems for this goal: ‘The UK must be an AI Make not an AI Taker’ The UK needs companies at the frontier that will be our UK national champions. Given the raw ingredients available in the UK and the renowned world-class engineering talent coming out of UK universities examples including DeepMind and Wayve. It is clear the UK has the capabilities to be a leader in the AI field.
Despite this, the report believes the UK requires a more activist approach, similar to Japan’s MITI. The Government must maximise all its ambitions in their approach towards generating national champions. To ensure this is achieved, the UK must ensure research and development is taken place in all key AI industries e.g. robotics and engineering. The paper outlines the following recommendation to the government:
- Create a new unit, UK Sovereign AI, with the power to partner with the private sector to deliver the clear mandate of maximising the UK’s stake in frontier AI.
At the heart of this unit will be public-private collaboration. This means it will provide support to private sectors and academic areas with the ability to collaborate internationally to possibly spin out AI companies. In order to achieve this, research must be stressed into areas which have the most promising potential. With this the strategy could maximise the UK’s chance to grow globally competitive national champions. Support from other government organisations such as Innovate UK. This aims to provide funding to promising AI start-ups.