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The UK will invest in government-owned AI computing capacity over five years, including building a new supercomputer, as it seeks to build a globally competitive artificial intelligence sector, ministers will announce on Monday.
The move is in response to a newly released report. AI Opportunities for the UK economy, funded by the government and designed by British venture capitalists Matt Clifford.
The supercomputer will join two other UK machines at the University of Bristol, including Isambard-AI, which includes around 5,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), special chips for building AI software, and Isambard-AI at Cambridge University.
The Clifford Report It supports reaching the equivalent of 100,000 GPUs in government ownership by 2030.
The new capacity, which represents a 20-fold increase in UK sovereign computing power, is separate from privately owned AI data centers and will be deployed by the government for AI applications, mainly in academia and public services.
It is not clear how much the project will cost, despite a research and development budget from the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.
The announcement comes as Clifford was appointed part-time. Advisor to Ministers On AI, helping to implement the recommendations in the report, according to the two people mentioned in the plan. Downing Street declined to comment on the proposals.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Our plan will make Britain a world leader (in AI). It 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 the government is bringing,” he said.
After a private dinner with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and DeepMind chief Sir Demis Hassabis the night before the UK, Starmer raved about the value of AI as an engine of economic growth and public sector reform. International investment meeting In October, according to people who were briefed on the matter.
Clifford’s report, known as the “AI Possibilities Action Plan”, was presented to the government in September, but its publication has been plagued by delays. Several cabinet ministers discussed the content in December, people briefed on the discussions said.
He lays out 50 recommendations for creating a thriving national AI industry by improving the conditions for building, scaling and adopting novel technology.
Among the government’s approved recommendations are the creation of AI “growth zones”, accelerated approval of plans for UK regions to build AI infrastructure; and the AI ​​Energy Council, to advise on requirements around energy resources for AI, including nuclear power.
Tech experts, including Clifford, have argued that sovereign computing power is necessary to prevent British AI companies and researchers from relying on AI businesses in other countries.
They argue that access to affordable, reliable computing power is critical as computing infrastructure becomes a geopolitical battleground, given that its capabilities can shape new AI technologies and companies on a global scale.
Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle came under fire in August for canceling funding for the £800mn Exascale supercomputer program at the University of Edinburgh, a machine that will carry out complex scientific calculations such as physics simulations, in a move that spanned the tech and academic sectors. Guard.
Kyle insists “nothing has been cut” as the £800m budget promised by the last government has not been delivered.
In the absence of any significant new sovereign computing programs, the UK’s most powerful computer has been taken over by rivals, meaning the country is currently without a machine. Top 50 of the world.
Additional reporting by George Hammond in San Francisco
