Government Sets Out Blueprint 'to Turbocharge AI'

Artificial intelligence will deliver a decade of national renewal, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said at the launch of the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan.

He said the government is throwing the full weight of Whitehall behind AI by agreeing to take forward all 50 recommendations set out by the plan’s author, Matt Clifford.

At the launch, the Prime Minister said AI can transform the lives of working people – it has the potential to speed up planning consultations to get Britain building, help drive down admin for teachers so they can get on with teaching our children, and feed AI through cameras to spot potholes and help improve roads, he said.

The IMF estimates that – if AI is fully embraced – it can boost productivity by as much as 1.5 percentage points a year. If fully realised, these gains could be worth up to an average £47 billion to the UK each year over a decade.

Starmer said: “Artificial Intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. From teachers personalising lessons, to supporting small businesses with their record-keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people.

“But the AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.

“Our plan will make Britain the world leader. It will give the industry the foundation it needs and will turbocharge the Plan for Change. That means more jobs and investment in the UK, more money in people’s pockets, and transformed public services.

“That’s the change this government is delivering.”

It comes as three major tech companies – Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl – have committed to £14 billion investment in the UK to build the AI infrastructure the UK needs to harness the potential of this technology and deliver 13,250 jobs across the UK. That’s on top of the £25 billion in AI investment announced at the International Investment Summit.

The key initiatives include:

• forging new AI Growth Zones to speed up planning proposals and build more AI infrastructure. The first of these will be in Culham, Oxfordshire
• increasing the public compute capacity by twentyfold to provide the processing power need to drive the technology.
• creating a new National Data Library to safely and securely unlock the value of public data and support AI development.
• a dedicated AI Energy Council chaired by the Science and Energy Secretaries will also be established, working with energy companies to understand the energy demands and challenges which will fuel the technology’s development.

“Artificial Intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. From teachers personalising lessons, to supporting small businesses with their record-keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people."

Kier Starmer, UK Prime Minister