Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has written to his Cabinet, tasking them with AI (artificial intelligence) adoption and growth in their sectors, and making that a top priority.
Among proposals in the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan are AI Growth Zones to speed planning proposals and build more AI infrastructure – the first of these will be in Culham, Oxfordshire, already home to the UK Atomic Energy Authority – and a ‘National Data Library’ for use of public data.
Sir Keir Starmer said: “Artificial Intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. From teachers personalising lessons, to supporting small businesses with their record-keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people. But the AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.
“Our plan will make Britain the world leader. It will give the industry the foundation it needs and will turbocharge the Plan for Change. That means more jobs and investment in the UK, more money in people’s pockets, and transformed public services.”
Sir Keir was speaking at the UCL East campus at Stratford, east London; accompanied by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle. They met University College London researchers into AI.
Comments
Generally, the adoption of AI is only going to benefit organisations, both economically and from a cybersecurity perspective, says Martin Riley, pictured, CTO at Bridewell, a consultancy and Microsoft cybersecurity partner in the UK for CNI (critical national infrastructure) such as utilities. He says: “The initial and more real-term items in the Action Plan is the buildout of infrastructure. Particularly data centres and communications to power the AI requirements and control data sovereignty. The Data Centre market is not well regulated and the maturity of cybersecurity around these facilities is some-what lacking. In my previous roles, I designed, operated, and reviewed such Data Centres so I’m coming from a point of experience, not just speculation.
“One of the other items is the National Data Library. Building large datasets that can be shared with researchers is a potential IP and PII nightmare. The NDL will primarily aim to ensure the private sector can innovate to support the public sectors, so the rigor around the data, anonymization and protection of individuals is going to create several cyber security challenges. What are the cyber security requirements going to be for those that are looking to access the NDL and use its data?
“As organisations, particularly CNI look to leverage AI, key considerations need to be made for how it is deployed, both in terms of the architecture and security controls, as well as what the AI systems have access to and responsibility for. I highly doubt organisations are going to be establishing links between operational control systems and AI, but it is probably more for predictive modelling, digital twins, recommendations and using GenAI for fault finding.
“The UK is already behind other regions such as the Middle East and Asia in terms of access to talent and the widespread learning and development of AI specific skills, so a considerable amount of focus needs to be applied to this. Blending this with the security of AI, where the MLOps pipelines need to be secured to ensure there is no data leak, particularly sensitive data, vulnerabilities correctly managed, biases and poisoning correctly managed. These skills are in even shorter supply.”
At the data privacy regulator the ICO, Stephen Almond, Executive Director for Regulatory Risk, welcomed the plan. He said: “AI has huge potential to transform businesses and public services, which is why it is a priority area for the ICO. Data protection is essential to realising this opportunity and ensuring that the public can have trust in AI.”
Megha Kumar, Chief Product Officer and Head of Geopolitical Risk at CyXcel, said: “The UK Prime Minister has accepted all the 50 recommendations set out by Matt Clifford in the AI Opportunities Action Plan. The push from the Starmer government makes robust economic sense given three critical trends. First: the transformative potential and rapid innovation in AI. Second: growing Western-China rivalry over cutting-edge technology including AI, quantum and space technologies. Third: the UK’s existing leadership in AI; on key metrics such as investment and patents, the UK ranks behind only the United States and China in the world.
“The policy will attract investment, foster innovation and enhance the UK’s infrastructure and talent pool in the AI sector. Yet this is a statement of aspiration, which will boost investor confidence and help tone down recent criticism from US firms about UK AI policy. Success in terms of achieving policy goals such as growth, productivity, revamping public services will depend on the detail of policy execution. Several key issues are worth noting. At the AI Safety Summit in November 2023, London sort to take the lead on ensuring that global AI innovation balances innovation with ethical considerations such as those relating to transparency, accountability, fairness etc. The Starmer government will need to demonstrate that these concerns are not going to be sidelined. The announcement today recognises the environmental challenge of AI – this technology is both energy and water-intensive. How the UK government balances its net-zero goals and water-security goals with its AI push will be critical.
“The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority last year produced a report warning of competition risks arising out of the dominance of a small group of companies on the global AI market (outside China) . While fostering the growth of more UK AI firms would address this problem, closer UK partnerships with established US AI vendors would add to it. The US, under the new Trump administration, will have fewer of these challenges since his administration is not committed to climate mitigation like the Biden administration, competition policy in the US will not be revised to fit the peculiarities of the US digital economy despite the push from Lina Khan’s FTC, and AI-related ethical considerations (although important) will be a secondary goal for the new White House.”
Mike Beck, Global Chief Information Security Officer at the cyber firm Darktrace, described the recommendations in the AI plan as ambitious and wide-ranging and with the otential to turn AI into an engine for the UK economy. He said: “As a home-grown AI company, we know that the UK has world-class research talent, brilliant institutions and a strong tech ecosystem. Governments can and should move at a faster pace to help realise the benefits of rapid technological change, and we look forward to the government swiftly implementing this Plan. This will help to turn AI from abstract opportunity to real-world benefit in offices and shop floors across the country.
“Companies and consumers also need to be confident that AI innovation is safe and secure. The upcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill offers the opportunity to better safeguard data and AI infrastructure, and it will be important to ensure a more digitised and AI-enabled public sector is secure and trusted.”
