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The UK will invest in a significant expansion of government-owned AI computing capacity over five years, including building a new supercomputer, with the aim of establishing a globally competitive artificial intelligence sector. on a global scale, ministers will announce on Monday.
The move follows a recently published report on the opportunities of AI for the UK economy, commissioned by the government and authored by British venture capitalist Matt Clifford.
The supercomputer will join the UK’s two other advanced machines, including the University of Bristol’s Isambard-AI, which contains around 5,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), specialist chips for creating AI software, and Dawn from the University of Cambridge.
Clifford’s report calls for reaching the equivalent of 100,000 GPUs in public capacity by 2030.
The new capacity, which would represent a 20-fold increase in the UK’s sovereign computing power, will be separate from private AI data centers and will be deployed by the government primarily for AI applications in academia and businesses. public services.
It is unclear how much the project will cost, although it will be funded from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technology’s research and development budget.
The announcement comes as Clifford is appointed as a part-time adviser to ministers on AI, helping to implement the recommendations of his report, according to two people briefed on the plan. Downing Street declined to comment on the proposals.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Our plan will make Britain the world leader [in AI]. This will give the industry the foundation it needs. . . This means more jobs and investment in the UK, more money in people’s pockets and transformed public services. This is the change that this government is bringing.
Starmer became more enthusiastic about the value of AI as a driver of economic growth and public sector reform after a private dinner with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and DeepMind chief Sir Demis Hassabis, the day before the global investment summit in the UK in October, according to sources. informed of the matter.
The Clifford report, known as the AI Opportunities Action Plan, was submitted to the government in September, but its publication faced delays. Several ministers met to discuss its contents in December, according to people briefed on the discussions.
It presents 50 recommendations aimed at creating a thriving domestic AI industry by improving the conditions necessary for the creation, scale and adoption of new technology.
Among the recommendations accepted by the Government are: the creation of AI “growth zones”, areas of the UK with fast-track access to planning approvals to build AI infrastructure; and an AI Energy Council, responsible for advising on energy resource requirements for AI, including nuclear energy.
Technology experts including Clifford have argued that sovereign computing capacity is essential to ensure that UK AI companies and researchers can become less dependent on AI companies in other countries.
They argue that this capability can enable new AI technologies and globally relevant businesses, and that having access to reliable computing power at a reasonable cost is crucial as IT infrastructure becomes a geopolitical battlefield.
Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle was criticized in August for cutting funding for an £800 million Exascale supercomputer program at the University of Edinburgh, a machine capable of complex scientific calculations such as physics simulations, in a move that took the technology and academic sector by surprise. guard.
Kyle insisted he had “not cut anything” as the £800 million promised by the previous government had not been budgeted for.
In the absence of significant new sovereign computing programs, the UK’s most powerful computer has been overtaken by its competitors, meaning the country no longer has a machine ranked in the world’s top 50.
Additional reporting by George Hammond in San Francisco
