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Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The writer is the British Prime Minister
Artificial intelligence is the defining opportunity of our generation. It is not the technology that is coming. It is already here, materially changing lives. This prevents disease in our NHS. This creates exciting new companies in our economy. This pushes the boundaries of scientific discoveries at our universities. And it accelerates this government’s plan to transform the country.
Take NHS waiting times. We will use AI to reduce them by filling appointments that patients can no longer make and moving appointments quickly. Or take your children’s education. We will expand opportunities for teachers to use artificial intelligence to personalize lessons specifically for your child’s needs. The possibilities are endless. AI can support small businesses with their record keeping. Can spot holes faster. This can help speed up planning applications to rebuild Britain. On and on. In the years to come, hardly any aspect of our society will remain untouched.
Britain should be excited about this. First, it offers credible hope for a long-desired increase in public sector productivity. Nurses, social workers, teachers, police officers — for millions of frontline workers, AI can give the precious gift of time. This means they can refocus on the caring and connected aspects of their work that are so often buried under red tape. That’s the beautiful irony of artificial intelligence in the public sector. It provides an opportunity to make services more human.
Equally, as the world’s third largest AI market, Britain is well placed to take advantage of growth opportunities. A number of blue-chip AI companies already call Britain home. Our universities are full of scientific talent. We have a thriving tech ecosystem with some of the best entrepreneurs on the planet. Our AI the security infrastructure is truly world leading. And our values of democracy, open trade and the rule of law fit this test well. Our values are absolutely critical to the free exchange of ideas needed to truly maximize the potential of artificial intelligence.
Nevertheless, we cannot sit complacently and wait for the competition to catch up with us. The global race for leadership in artificial intelligence is fast and getting faster. Some countries will make advances in artificial intelligence and export them to the world. It will be left to others to buy these discoveries and import them. I don’t believe the government should be passive or neutral on this issue — this is the industry’s bread and butter policy. AI is currently the biggest force for change in the world. I am determined to use it to usher in the golden age of public service reform. And I am determined that the UK will become the best place to start and scale an AI business. I know that growth in this area cannot be led by the state. But it is absolutely the government’s job to ensure that the right conditions are in place.
That’s why, days after our election, I tasked venture capitalist Matt Clifford with developing a plan to harness the limitless potential of artificial intelligence. Today we are launching that plan and reporting the results.
We will create new artificial intelligence growth zones and breathe new life into former industrial sites across the country. We will increase public sector computing — the engine of AI power — by a factor of at least 20. We will establish a gold-standard data access regime, with a National Data Library, a clear and reliable copyright regime and a new determination to unlock the innovation potential of NHS data. And we will break through the absurd roadblocks in our planning system that prevent billions from being invested in the data centers and network connectors on which AI depends.
Make no mistake — these reforms are already starting to bear fruit. On Monday alone, Vantage Data Centers confirmed it will invest more than £12 billion in new data centers across the country, including building one of Europe’s largest data centers in Wales. This should create 11,500 jobs in artificial intelligence and construction. And it’s a sign of things to come.
Because Britain shouldn’t just be excited about AI – it should be confident. We don’t need to go the US or European way on regulating AI — we can go our own way, taking a distinctively British approach that will test AI long before we regulate, so that everything we do is proportionate and based on science. And with that, the offer of stability, pragmatism and common sense that one would expect from democratic British values to investors.
Simply put, that’s our message to everyone working on the frontier of artificial intelligence: look at Britain. Our ambition is to be your best government partner anywhere in the world. We see the future, run towards it and support our builders. Because we know that artificial intelligence has arrived as the ultimate force for change and national renewal.
