UK AI Minister Feryal Clark outlines AI’s Opportunity Action Plan and aims to promote innovation, investment and collaboration across the sector, ensuring that AI benefits are accessible to all communities.
In recent years, the UK has become an important player in the global AI (AI) landscape, evolving into a hub of innovation and technological advancement. The government’s aggressive approach highlights its commitment to harnessing the potential for AI transformation across different sectors, as demonstrated by the establishment of AI’s Opportunity Action Plan. The initiative not only strengthens the UK’s position as an AI leader, but also makes the benefits of this technology accessible to all communities.
The possibilities of artificial intelligence are innovative and offer great advantages across multiple sectors. From improving healthcare with rapid diagnosis and personalized treatment plans to optimizing manufacturing processes and increasing supply chain efficiency, AI is unlocking new possibilities. It boosts economic growth, enriches the quality of life, paving the way for a smarter, more connected future.
To further explore the UK AI landscape, Minister Feryal Clark, AI for the Department of Science, Industry and Technology, discusses current advancements in AI, specific applications across different sectors, and the collaborative work needed for sustainable growth and prosperity.
How do you assess the current landscape of artificial intelligence in the UK?
The UK AI sector is thriving. It was worth £72.3 billion in 2024, and is currently ranked third worldwide, behind the US and China alone. We are a true global hub for AI innovation and development, home to world-class universities and cutting-edge research institutes. That’s why major companies such as Humanity, Openai and Palantir chose London as their European headquarters. But we aim higher.
Since taking office, we have already seen £44 billion in AI investments in the UK. With AI’s Opportunity Action Plan, every corner of the UK is working to ensure AI benefits.
Can you summarise the AI Opportunity Action Plan and the reasons behind its development?
Artificial intelligence is a critical opportunity for our generation and is already changing our lives today. AI’s Opportunity Action Plan is a blueprint to seize this moment in the UK. Commissioned by the technology secretary as one of the first actions in the government and devised by Matt Clifford, the Prime Minister’s advisor on AI opportunities, the plan includes 50 recommendations to turn Britain into a true AI superpower. The Prime Minister has accepted them all and demonstrated the government’s determination to embed AI at the heart of its plan of change. They supported prosperity, raised living standards, and built the company of tomorrow in the UK.
To do this, we support AI Opportunity Action Plans through three key pillars. Lay the foundations that enable AI adoption and development. Change lives by encouraging businesses and the public to embrace AI. And ensure a long-term future as a global AI power with a powerful, home-made sector.
Can you provide examples of sector-specific AI applications that are particularly promising in the UK?
In healthcare, AI supports all stroke centres in England, read acute brain scans and assist doctors, reducing the time it takes for patients to enter and exit the door from nearly six hours to more than two. This will help diagnose and treat cancer cases more than ever before, and by leveraging AI, researchers are doing a pioneering job to supply new drugs to treat diseases that were previously thought to be untreated. In the classroom, teachers use AI tools to create lesson plans, allowing them to spend more time with their students and be free to reduce their documents.
The measures already taken have attracted £44 billion worth of investment to the AI sector since entering the government. This not only helps to increase the promotional focus of the plan for change, as it enhances AI adoption, but also creates new employment and fresh opportunities for all UK citizens.
Can you elaborate on the role of cooperation between governments, academia and industry in the deployment of AI Opportunity Action Plans?
Our plan of action calls for true partnerships across the public sector and industry to set ambitious goals and provide them. Since its launch, we have not wasted time. Industry and local leaders have already submitted more than 200 expressions of interest to the AI growth zone from every corner of the UK. These zones will become hotbeds of innovation, attracting billions of dollars in private investment, creating cutting-edge jobs, and encouraging communities by solidifying the UK’s place at the forefront of AI.
The AI Energy Council is another important chain of this work. It brings together energy and technology sector and regulatory leaders to accelerate renewable solutions and ensure that the grid is ready to strengthen the country’s AI ambitions.
How does the UK aim to establish itself as a global leader in AI? What competitive advantage do you think the UK has? And what challenges do you anticipate in achieving this status?
The UK already exists as the world’s third largest AI market, with four researchers from the top 10 Globe universities, led by its own pioneer who only collected the Nobel Prize for AI last year. The depth of its talent is consistent with the government that decided to use technology to stumble turbocharge growth and raise standards of living through its plans for change. We’ve pulled every lever in the state, implemented all 50 recommendations from the AI Opportunity Action Plan, making the UK a natural home for businesses that want to invent, expand and thrive.
We have already made great strides in making the UK a global hub for investment, bringing private backing worth £44 billion since taking office last summer. This includes Vantage Data Centers, Nscale and Kyndryl, which promises a £14 billion investment to help the UK leverage the potential of the technology and build the AI infrastructure needed to provide 13,250 jobs across the UK.
We are not blinded to the fact that AI continues to develop at an incredible pace. That’s why we can now capture a wave of future opportunities and build the domestic AI sector and remain a global leader in the field for the next few years.
What are the key milestones in the AI Opportunity Action Plan in the future? How is success measured and what metrics used to track the progress of the AI landscape?
Later this year, we will set up a 10-year calculation strategy that will expand sovereign computing by 21 times and provide a new supercomputer that can play 500,000 chess games per second. Its firepower drives discovery from labs to hospitals and production lines, and speeds cutting-edge research into new drugs and growth. We also make great strides in the AI growth zone. The next host site will be announced this summer and will be announced with the aim of shoveling on the ground by the end of the year. We want to see these programs unlock billions of investments and provide thousands of skilled jobs.
Together, these steps will help to provide transformed public services and drive economic growth across the country. We will also work with Skills England to publish detailed skill ratings. It helps to identify gaps in the talent pool, ensuring people from all backgrounds and in all communities have the skills they need to work in AI.
This article will also be featured in the 22nd edition of Quarterly Publication.
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