The UK has a rich tradition of science and technology leadership — but to realise AI’s full potential, a comprehensive AI opportunity agenda will be required. That’s why today, we’ve launched our new paper, “Unlocking the UK’s AI potential.”
With the groundwork of modern computer science laid in the UK over 70 years ago, British leaders have long pioneered major advances in the evolution of digital technology, and AI is no exception. The UK’s strong academic and R&D leadership has meant that world-leading AI research institutes and trailblazing AI companies, such as Google DeepMind, continue to grow and thrive here.
AI’s transformative potential means that we’re at an early but critical juncture of policymaking for the UK. AI-powered innovation could create over £400 billion in economic value by 2030 and deliver enormous productivity gains across all sectors of the UK economy. It could also help to solve pressing societal issues and advance progress in fundamental sciences.
The paper looks at three key areas for action – investment in AI infrastructure, a thoughtful workforce strategy and universal access to AI – and outlines how they will be critical to the UK’s success. In each area, there are recommendations that have truly transformative potential — such as our calls for a National Research Cloud and a National Skills Service.
A National Research Cloud would provide critical access to compute capacity and computational tools, fostering a collaborative environment that enables the UK to develop a comprehensive compute strategy, both in terms of capacity and delivery focus.
Our proposed National Skills Service complements this, offering a new platform and accreditation system of lifelong learning for UK employers and workers. This promises to empower more people with skill sets to access high-value jobs, and enables them to seize the advantages of a UK policy framework offering the right conditions for AI’s full potential to be felt.
As our new government embarks on its own path to boost economic growth, the moment for big decisions on the UK’s approach to growth and AI is now. Should the next agenda rise to the challenge, it will fulfil the AI opportunity to make the UK a land of investment and growth — and we at Google are ready to play our part.