The Government will outline plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) across the UK to boost growth and deliver public services more efficiently.
The AI Opportunities Action Plan announced on Monday will be supported by major technology companies, which are reported to have committed £14 billion to various projects, creating 13,250 jobs.
It includes plans for growth areas where development will be concentrated, and technology will be used to help solve problems such as potholes.
“I want to make sure that this benefits everyone from all walks of life, that it benefits every community, every part of the UK,” Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC.
Last summer, the government commissioned AI advisor Matt Clifford to create a UK action plan for artificial intelligence.
He came back with 50 recommendations and all of them have now been implemented.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said AI will “drive incredible change” in the country and “has the potential to transform the lives of workers”.
“Our plan will make Britain the world leader,” Sir Keir said.
Kyle told the BBC there was no reason why the UK couldn’t create tech companies on the same scale as Google, Amazon and Apple.
“At the moment we don’t have any British-owned, cutting-edge, conceptual companies. We have DeepMind, which started in Britain but is now American-owned,” he said.
“Now we want to retain all the ingredients that allow this type of innovation and investment to exist in Britain.”
DeepMind created technology that allows computers to play video and board games.
It was founded by three students from University College London before being bought by Google.
Using figures from the International Monetary Fund, the government estimates that full adoption of AI could bring on average up to £47 billion to the UK each year over a decade.
Tech companies Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl have committed £14 billion to build the relevant AI infrastructure in the UK.
This comes on top of the £25 billion investment in AI announced at the International Investment Summit.
Vantage Data Centers is working to build one of Europe’s largest data center campuses in Wales.
Kyndryl will create up to 1,000 AI-related jobs in Liverpool over the next three years, forming a new technology hub.
Nscale has signed a contract to build an AI data center in Loughton, Essex by 2026.
The government says “AI growth zones” will be created across the UK, with rapid planning proposals in place to create new infrastructure.
The first of these will take place in Culham, Oxfordshire and more will be announced this summer, with a focus on deindustrialised areas.
“I want to find areas of the country where there is a real need for jobs of the future because the jobs of the past have already started to decline and use the fact that there are often very good grid connections in those areas that can supply excess energy right now,” Kyle said.
Other parts of the plan include a new national data library to secure public data and an AI Energy Council led by Kyle and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband that will focus on applications energy technology.
The Conservatives said the government’s plans “will not help the UK become a technological and scientific superpower”.
Blaming them for slashing £1.3 billion from funding for “Britain’s first next-generation supercomputer and AI research”, shadow science secretary Alan Mak said Labor ” provided analog government in the digital age.”
“AI does have the potential to transform public services, but Labour’s economic mismanagement and uninspiring plan will leave Britain behind,” he added.
But Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “AI is a powerful tool that will help grow our economy, make our public services more efficient and open up new opportunities to help improve living standards. »
