The UK has set its plans in motion to become a global AI superpower, rivalling the US and China in placing AI at the heart of the economy
The Government plans for AI to be at the centre of its industrial strategy, prioritising economic growth and the delivery of new jobs and improving public services
On 13 January 2025, the UK Government set out its AI Opportunities Action Plan and its relation to the UK’s strategy for growth. The Government believes that AI will ‘turbocharge’ growth and boost living standards for working people. The plan adopts all 50 recommendations made by Matt Clifford (Co-Founder, Chair and Talent Investor, Entrepreneur First), who was recently appointed AI Opportunities Adviser for the Government. According to the Government, the IMF estimates that the gains of AI could be worth up to an average of £47bn to the UK each year over the course of a decade. Sir Keir Starmer was also clear in his speech introducing the plan that he wanted the UK to be an AI “maker” and not a “taker”, hoping to ensure the UK is a global leader in AI exports. In its mission to do so, the Government's plan takes a focus on the revolution of public services through AI, the establishment of AI Growth Zones and the importance of public-private partnerships for investment.
Ministers are encouraged to implement AI into their work, in the aim of transforming public services
In his speech, Starmer discussed how AI is already being used in the UK to great effect, particularly in the NHS.The plan sets out further uses for AI in public services, including to speed up planning consultations to get Britain building, to improve education through personalised learning and less administrative burden for teachers and to even spot potholes, helping to improve roads across the country. As well as planning for AI to transform public services in all industries, the Government is also clear that AI will play a key role in its own work. A new digital centre of government is being set up within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) which will work to revolutionise the public sector with AI to improve government efficiency and how citizens interact with public services e.g. cutting NHS waiting times and fixing potholes. Starmer has personally written to his whole cabinet, encouraging them to adopt AI into the work of their own sectors and ministries, making it a top priority for all government departments. Governments and regulators have tended to take caution in adopting AI for their own work though as it can at times be unreliable when it comes to accuracy, data protection and its capacity for errors.
The first ever ‘AI Growth Zones’ will be set up in the UK to encourage investment and the rapid building of data centres
The plan also calls for the creation of AI Growth Zones, which will be designated areas of focus for speeding up planning approvals for data centres, improving their access to the energy grid and drawing in investment. The first growth zone will be in Cullham, Oxfordshire. More of these areas will be announced in H2 2025 and are expected to be concentrated in de-industrialised areas of the country with access to the necessary power and strong support from local governments. In particular, Starmer’s speech referenced the establishment of datacentres in the North East and tech hubs in the North West, including in Liverpool. The AI infrastructure that is created within these growth zones is expected to create thousands of new jobs in both their construction and later operation. Whether these developments will then support more localised growth of AI industries is still unclear, but the plan does detail that new infrastructure can drive local rejuvenation into areas with existing energy capacity such as post-industrial towns. The Government's announcement also included plans to increase public compute capacity twenty-fold by 2030, significantly improving the UK’s ability to power new AI products and infrastructure. To further understand the energy demands and challenges of AI the plan also details that an AI Energy Council will be created and will work alongside energy companies to support the Government’s mission of becoming a clean energy superpower. As a part of the Government's mission to be an AI “maker”, a new team is being created within the government to build the country’s sovereign capabilities by seizing new AI opportunities. A National Data Library will also be created to safely utilise the value of public data in domestic AI development.
Private investment into AI infrastructure in the UK is an important part of the plan
The importance of private investment is discussed in the plan, and the Government sees AI Growth Zones as a way to draw this in. Understanding that the UK Government is not in a position to spend heavily itself on AI infrastructure, this private investment is seen to be a crucial step in making the UK an AI superpower. Three major tech firms (Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl) have already committed £14bn in the UK to build AI infrastructure needed to harness the potential of the technology. These investments are also expected to create 13,250 jobs and come in addition to the £25bn of AI investment that was announced at the International Investment Summit in October 2024. Vantage Data Centres is working to build one of Europe’s largest datacentres in Wales as well as investing £11bn in other datacentres around the country, creating over 11,500 jobs. Kyndryl has announced its plans to deliver up to 1,000 AI-related jobs in Liverpool in the next three years via a new tech hub. Finally, Nscale, one of the UK’s leading AI firms, has committed to a $2.5bn (£2bn) investment to support UK datacentre infrastructure, also over the next three years. Nscale has also signed a contract to build the UK’s largest sovereign AI datacentre in Loughton, Essex by 2026 — which aligns with the Government’s focus on ensuring that the UK is an AI “maker” not “taker”.
