Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the AI Growth Lab on economic growth.

The Government recognises that artificial intelligence represents a defining economic opportunity for the coming decade. The OECD estimates that AI adoption could add 0.4 to 1.3 percentage points to the UK’s productivity growth- equivalent to adding £55-140 billion to UK GVA in 2030.

Lab would drive innovation and growth, super charging investment in innovative start-ups. The exact quantity of investment is uncertain, but firms participating in a previous FCA sandbox received 6.6 times more investment compared to non-participants.[1]

Early analysis indicates that lifting unnecessary legal barriers to AI in the Lab could unlock billions of pounds of GVA by 2035.

[1] Goo, J. and J. Heo (2020), “The Impact of the Regulatory Sandbox on the Fintech Industry, with a Discussion on the Relation between Regulatory Sandboxes and Open Innovation”, 6 J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex, https://www.mdpi.com/2199-8531/6/2/.