London, January 13
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to announce an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Opportunities Action Plan on Monday which includes a set of initiatives to pitch the UK as the first place for AI firms to invest in varied areas such as AI growth zones.
As per the press release issued by the Government of the UK, the "blueprint to turbocharge AI" will help accelerate growth and boost living standards. It will ensure that the public sector spends less time doing admin-related work and more time delivering the services working people rely on.
The initiative will see £14 billion and 13,250 jobs committed by private leading tech firms following the AI Action Plan.
"In a marked move from the previous government's approach, the Prime Minister is throwing the full weight of Whitehall behind this industry by agreeing to take forward all 50 recommendations set out by Matt Clifford in his game-changing AI Opportunities Action Plan", the press release said.
The plan includes initiatives that will help make the UK "the number one place for AI firms to invest, which is vital if Britain is to be at the forefront of this industry and be a change-maker rather than a change-taker".
The changes being brought in include increasing the public computing capacity by twentyfold to give the processing power needed for fully embracing the new technology and creating a new National Data Library to safely and securely unlock the value of public data and support AI development.
The plan also includes the establishment of a dedicated AI Energy Council chaired by the Science and Energy Secretaries which would work with energy companies to understand the energy demands and challenges which will fuel the technology's development, thereby directly supporting the government's mission to become a clean energy superpower by tapping into technologies like small modular reactors.
The plan has three main pillars that will lay the foundations for AI's growth and adoption in the UK.
The first pillar, which lays the foundations for AI to flourish in the UK, will include the setting up of AI Growth Zones, with the first of these to be in Culham, Oxfordshire, home to the UK's Atomic Energy Authority.
The second pillar involves boosting the adoption of AI across public and private sectors to improve citizen lives and make the government more efficient. It will scan for new ideas, pilot them in public sector settings, then scale them as far as they can go.
The third pillar will see a new team being set up to keep the UK at the forefront of emerging technology.
- ANI