The government is rolling out plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) across the UK to boost growth and deliver public services more efficiently.
The AI Opportunities Action Plan, to be announced on Monday, will be backed by leading tech firms, who are said to have pledged £14bn to various projects, creating 13,250 jobs.
This includes plans for development areas where development will be focused, and technology will be used to help tackle problems such as potholes.
Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC: “I want to make sure it benefits everyone from all backgrounds, it benefits every community from every part of the UK. “
Last summer, the government commissioned AI adviser Matt Clifford to draw up a UK action plan for artificial intelligence.
They came back with 50 recommendations and all of them are now being implemented.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said AI would bring “incredible change” to the country and “has the potential to transform the lives of working people”.
“Our plan will make the UK a world leader,” Sir Kerr said.
Kyle told the BBC there was no reason Britain couldn’t build tech giants like Google, Amazon and Apple.
“At the moment, we don’t have any frontier concept, innovative companies that are British-owned. We have DeepMind, which started in the UK but is now American-owned,” he said.
“We now want to retain all the components that enable this kind of innovation and investment to exist in the UK.”
DeepMind created technology that enabled computers to play video and board games.
It was founded by three students from University College London before being acquired by Google.
Using data from the International Monetary Fund, the government estimates that fully embracing AI could benefit the UK by an average of £47bn per year over a decade.
Tech companies Vantage Datacentres, Nscale, and Kyndryl have committed £14bn to building relevant AI infrastructure in the UK.
This is in addition to the £25bn AI investment announced at the International Investment Summit.
Vantage Data Centers is building Europe’s largest data center campus in Wales.
Kyndryl will create 1,000 AI-related jobs in Liverpool over the next three years, creating a new tech hub.
Nscale has signed a deal to build an AI data center in Loughton, Essex, until 2026.
The government says “AI Growth Zones” will be set up across the UK, with proposals for rapid planning to create new infrastructure.
The first of these will be in Culham, Oxfordshire and more will be announced this summer focusing on de-industrialised areas.
“I want to find parts of the country where there is a real need for future jobs because the jobs of the past have already started to decline and take advantage of the fact that those areas often have very good grid connections. are currently providing an excess of energy,” said Kyle.
Other parts of the plan include a new National Data Library to securely store public data and an AI Energy Council, led by Kyle and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, which will focus on the technology’s energy needs.
The Conservatives said the government’s plans “will not help Britain become a technology and science superpower”.
Blaming him for cutting £1.3bn in funding for “the UK’s first next-generation supercomputer and AI research”, shadow science secretary Alan Mack said Labor was “delivering analogue government in a digital age”. is”.
“AI has the potential to transform public services, but Labour’s economic mismanagement and uninspired plan will mean Britain is left behind,” he added.
But Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “AI is a powerful tool that will help grow our economy, make our public services more efficient and It will open up new opportunities to help improve quality of life.”