With strategic investments and a commitment to fostering innovation while prioritising responsibility, the UK is positioning itself as a powerhouse in the global artificial intelligence arena.
The UK AI market is valued at over $21billion and is estimated to grow to over $1trillon by 2035. It is the third largest AI market in the world after the US and China ,while UK AI startups currently produce over £2 billion in gross revenue and are estimated to employ almost 38,000 people.
Earlier this month, Microsoft revealed that Microsoft AI – its newly formed organisation to help advance its consumer AI products and research, will open a new AI hub in London. Microsoft AI London will look to advance state-of-the-art language models and their supporting infrastructure in order to create world-class tooling for foundation models.
Mustafa Suleyman, EVP and CEO of Microsoft AI, commented: “There is an enormous pool of AI talent and expertise in the UK and Microsoft AI plans to make a significant, long-term investment in the region as we begin hiring the best AI scientists and engineers into this new AI hub.
“I know – through my close work with thought leaders in the UK government, business community and academia – that the country is committed to advancing AI responsibly and with a safety-first commitment to drive investment, innovation and economic growth. Our decision to open this hub in the UK reflects this ambition.”
The Microsoft AI London hub adds to Microsoft’s existing presence in the UK, including the Microsoft Research Cambridge lab. The company also recently announced £2.5billion investment to “upskill the UK workforce for the AI era”.
Crucial step
Dan Shellard, UK partner at venture capitalist company Breega, sees Microsoft’s move as a crucial step in affirming the UK’s AI ambitions.
“The UK is very well positioned in the race to become an AI leader, but faces strong competition from the US, China and other European countries (mainly France and Germany), who all have their own champions emerging. As such, the UK’s AI ecosystem requires more capital and new initiatives from tech giants to truly cement its position.
“That’s why the announcement of Microsoft’s new AI hub, which follows the opening of OpenAI’s London HQ, is such a positive step. Not only does it help with talent attractivity, ensuring the best and brightest in AI development are based in the UK, but it will also drive further investment in the AI space – including Microsoft’s plans to invest £2.5billion to upskill the UK workforce for the AI era.
“The UK has seen a boom in artificial intelligence companies over the last ten years – growing from around 200 to well over 1700 today. Now, the UK boasts several GenAI companies – including Synthesia and StabilityAI – that are well funded and growing fast, and is currently the most attractive country in Europe for VC money.
“While the UK AI startups are estimated to employ around 40,000 people today, new investment from tech giants, and governments themselves, will see the UK become a tier 1 country for AI scientists and researchers – stimulating the growth of the AI entrepreneurial ecosystem at the same time.”
Techworks AI launch
In tandem with Microsoft’s establishment of AI hubs in the UK, is a growing response to concerns surrounding AI development and a commitment to advancing AI responsibly.
This week saw the launch of TechWorks AI at Bletchley Park, by TechWorks, the industry association in the UK’s deep tech sector. By harnessing the expertise of five industry bodies, TechWorks AI aims to engineer trustworthy AI systems, beginning with a focus on ensuring the safety and security of AI technologies.
John Moor, COO of TechWorks, described the launch as a “milestone moment” for UK innovation.
“The use and evolution of AI systems is common to our prosperity and this is why we have taken the time to understand how to support its development in a meaningful way. All technology is dual purpose – it can be used beneficially, as intended, but it can also be weaponised and this is especially true for artificial intelligence and all its subdomains.
“We are delighted to announce the launch of TechWorks AI which builds on a deep and substantial base of expertise with our initial focus on ‘engineering trustworthy AI.’
Government regulation focus
Reports this week suggest a shift in the UK government’s stance on AI regulation following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s earlier statement indicating no rush to regulate AI models and platforms. Reports indicate that the UK government is now beginning to craft new legislation to regulate artificial intelligence, with a focus on the most powerful language models which underpin OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Ryan Cox, co-head of AI at Synechron, an AI and technology consulting firm, suggests that as concern around AI risk snowballs, the government’s existing approach of voluntary actions and agreements could evolve towards something more binding.
“A particular challenge is how legacy regulations create a regulatory infrastructure in a completely new market,” says Cox. “While the exact content is yet to be decided, there’s a good chance that it will be the LLMs that sit behind applications that face regulation. This means organisations will have to understand more about what goes into the tools they use, rather than just the end interface.
“There is not always a clear line between ‘general purpose’ models and more specialised ones when deployed by financial firms which poses a challenge and regulation will act as an important stepping stone in providing guidance across the industry.”
‘Be more decisive’
Scott Dawson, head of strategic partnerships at DECTA, an end-to-end payments solutions provider, says the UK must take decisive action to assert its leadership in the AI space and adapt to evolving regulatory frameworks to maintain its competitiveness and foster trust.
“Ideally, the role of regulation should be to facilitate innovation, and the EU’s AI Act is a good example of regulation that has the potential to do just that. Classifying AI systems based on risk will allow fintech companies to benefit from the new capabilities of the technology while keeping a regulatory eye on the ‘black box’ problem.
As AI models become more complex and opaque, their workings and reasoning are ever more difficult for any one human to understand. The act emphasises the need for transparent AI, ensuring companies can explain how algorithms arrive at decisions. Naturally, there are considerations presented by this approach, but by creating a conceptual structure for firms to innovate within, the EU is creating a regulatory framework we can pre-emptively manage.”
“While the UK hasn’t enacted similar legislation, its ‘wait and see’ approach poses challenges. Especially because fintech firms aiming for the EU market will need to comply with the Act’s requirements. This includes increased transparency and robust due diligence for AI used in areas like credit scoring. Once again, an area where we need to understand why machines make the decisions that they do – and we’re not there yet.”
“During the UK’s AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park last year, Rishi Sunak suggested the UK should be a leader in this space. However, it will need to make more decisive moves than just waiting and seeing if that is to be the case. If it does take the reins, regulating for the sake of innovation is very much an option. While the UK hasn’t adopted its own AI legislation, the EU Act’s influence is undeniable.”
