The government said it will regulate AI to suit the U.K.'s needs and will establish a new AI champion for financial services to work with the government.
"On regulation, I know there are different approaches around the world, but we're now in control of our regulatory regime, so we'll go our own way on this," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a speech at University College London, referring to the U.K.'s post-Brexit freedom from European Union legacy rules.
Starmer said that in regulating AI with impact on financial services and other sectors, the U.K. would be pro-innovation but would get the framework right.
"We will test and understand AI before we regulate it to make sure that when we do it, it is proportionate and grounded in the science," Starmer said.
The government will appoint AI champions in key industries like financial services to work with industry and government and develop AI adoption plans, it said.
To achieve this, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade will identify by summer 2025 where industry leaders with AI-specific sector expertise can drive adoption, the government said.
The industry leaders will have knowledge of the current market for solutions and sector knowledge, according to the government.
As part of its action plan, the government will expand the country's computing capacity by at least 20 times by 2030, helping to enable AI.
To maximize public-private sector investment, the government will create AI growth zones. As a pilot, the government and the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority based in Culham will seek a private sector partner to develop an AI data center from spring 2025.
The government will create a national data library to store new data for AI purposes in a way that preserves privacy.
Starmer said in his speech he disagreed with the last government about the limits of government involvement in AI, saying, "We shouldn't just focus on safety."
He said that entrepreneurs and researchers who would make AI breakthroughs are looking around the world.
"They're choosing where to make their home," the prime minister said. "Trillions of pounds of investment are at stake. The battle for the jobs of tomorrow is happening today."
He said the U.K. had to be on the pitch and to challenge the mindset that feared AI, rewiring government. His biggest criticism of the previous government is that the U.K. had flat growth.
"Mark my words. Britain will be one of the AI superpowers," Starmer said. "That's not just boosterism or wishful thinking. It can be done and will be done."
Later this month, the U.K. will lead the world's first global AI safety test, working alongside its international partners, according to Starmer.
"So be in absolutely no doubt, we will make sure this technology is safe," Starmer said in his speech.
The last U.K. government said in April it had reached a landmark agreement with the U.S. to perform such a joint exercise, sharing the testing of advanced models for AI.
--Editing by Robert Rudinger.
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