The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Liz Kendall)
This Government are announcing thousands more jobs and billions of pounds of inward investment, in a huge vote of confidence in the UK.
We are committed to making the UK a world-leading destination for developing and deploying AI as part of our No. 1 mission to grow the UK economy. Our ambition is to harness the power of AI to deliver for British people: creating great jobs and growth right across the country, improving our public services, giving people skills and putting money in people’s pockets. We are announcing a major package of new reforms and investment, putting AI at heart of the Government’s mission to drive growth, create jobs and spread prosperity across the country. These plans will ensure that new international investment boosts jobs and growth, giving British businesses the opportunity to scale and compete internationally. International companies are also hosting new bases in the UK and British companies are increasing investment—with £24.25 billion in private investment committed in this last month alone—a huge vote of confidence in the UK.
The Government are joining forces with companies like Vantage Data Centres and Microsoft, to create another new AI growth zone in south Wales—delivering more than 5,000 new jobs over the next decade, and £10 billion of planned inward investment, including in industrial heartlands such as the former Ford Bridgend engine plant. These zones will help transform local economies and ensure that no community is left behind, with £5 million of UK Government support committed to give local people the skills required for new, high-quality jobs and ensure that our children and young people have the best possible future. This is the second AI growth zone announced in Wales in as many weeks, with the UK and Welsh Governments working together for national economic renewal and driving UK growth. This has the potential to be truly transformative for communities across south Wales, meaning an area that led the industrial revolution will now be leading the technological revolution.
Alongside this, we are ensuring that British businesses and researchers stay at the forefront of the AI revolution, backing firms and scientists with the right tools to succeed and to seize the opportunity for British workers and growth.
The Government will act as a “first customer” for promising UK AI start-ups building high-quality AI hardware products but who currently struggle to get off the ground without investment. The new “advance market commitment”, subject to due diligence, is backed up by up to £100 million of Government support to buy their products for public supercomputers once they reach a high performance benchmark. This gives UK start-ups the opportunity to secure a competitive edge and win customers in a multibillion-dollar global market. AI growth zone data centres will house billions of pounds of hardware. Our goal is to see British chips deployed alongside established vendors.
Alongside this, venture capitalist James Wise will chair the sovereign AI unit, backed by almost £500 million in investment to help build and scale AI capabilities on British shores. The unit will bring together Government, industry and investors to become the go-to fund for high-potential start-ups and scale-ups in the UK.
New AI ambassadors will help maximise the benefits of AI for Britain. Monzo co-founder and Y Combinator general partner Tom Blomfield will champion British start-ups to scale up and attract talent and investment. Nobel prize-winning British MIT economist and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund Simon Johnson will act as a standard bearer with public services and businesses to help them take up this brilliant technology to boost productivity. And Google DeepMind VP of research Raia Hadsell will champion the UK’s place at the forefront of AI innovation and security.
The Government will also offer more free compute to British researchers and British start-ups by expanding access to the AI research resource, a network of super-computers, so that researchers can train new AI models and deliver scientific breakthroughs. We are launching a process to spend up to £250 million on compute.
We are also publishing the new AI for science strategy to make sure that AI supercharges scientific discovery such as disease cure and prevention, backed by up to £137 million in Government support. This will support British researchers and start-ups to drive new innovations and discoveries, making sure the UK remains at the forefront of scientific discovery. Its first mission will be focused on harnessing AI to speed up the research of new drugs and treatments, giving patients a new lease of life and fresh hope that their conditions can be better managed.
Together, these announcements demonstrate a Government determined to harness the technologies of the future to deliver for our people here in the UK—supporting regional and national economic growth, great new jobs, and opportunity for communities across the UK.
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