The Prime Minister and Technology Secretary have announced £100 million in seed start-up funding for a task force responsible for accelerating the UK’s capacity in a rapidly emerging type of artificial intelligence.
The Prime Minister and Technology Secretary have announced £100m to start delivering on the Government’s key ambitions in relation to the UK’s capacity in secure and reliable foundation models.
The task force, modeled on the success of the COVID-19 Vaccines Task Force, will develop the safe and reliable use of this pivotal artificial intelligence (AI) across the economy and ensure the UK is globally competitive in this strategic technology.
Basis models—including large language models such as ChatGPT and Google Bard—are a class of artificial intelligence systems trained on huge amounts of data such as text, images, video, or audio to acquire broad and sophisticated capabilities across many tasks.
With AI poised to contribute billions of pounds to the UK’s GDP, the task force’s work will help deliver on the Prime Minister’s priorities for growing our economy, while delivering better outcomes for people across the country through better public services. Research indicates that widespread adoption of such systems could triple national productivity growth rates.
In areas such as healthcare, this type of AI has huge potential to speed up diagnostics and drug discovery and development. in Education can transform teachers’ daily work, freeing up their time to focus on delivering excellent education.
This technology is also expected to increase global GDP by 7 percent over a decade, making its adoption a vital opportunity for the development of the UK economy. To support corporate and public confidence in these systems and drive their adoption, the Task Force will work with the sector towards developing the safety and reliability of foundational models, both scientifically and commercially.
The investment will build the UK’s national ‘sovereign’ capabilities so that our public services can benefit from the transformative impact of this type of AI. The task force will focus on opportunities to establish the UK as a global leader in foundational models and their applications across the economy, and act as the bearer of global standards for AI safety.
Funding will be invested by the Enterprise Model Task Force in Foundation Model infrastructure and public service procurement, to create opportunities for local innovation. The first pilot projects targeting public services are expected to be launched in the next six months.
The task force, which was announced as part of last month’s Integrated Review Update, will bring together experts from government and industry and report directly to the Prime Minister and the Technology Secretary.
It follows a Cabinet meeting last week where ministers agreed on the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, the vital importance of retaining public confidence in its use, and the need for regulation that keeps people safe without inhibiting innovation.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: Harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence offers huge opportunities to grow our economy, create better paying jobs, and build a better future through advances in healthcare and security.
By investing in emerging technologies with our new expert staff, we can continue to lead the way in developing safe and trustworthy AI as part of shaping a more innovative UK economy.
Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donnellan said: Responsibly developing cutting-edge AI can have a transformative impact in almost every industry. It could revolutionize the way we develop new medical treatments, tackle climate change and improve our public services, all while growing and adapting to our economy in the future.
We need to act now to seize the opportunities that artificial intelligence can offer us in the future. We are supporting our expert team with funding to make our ambitions for an AI-enabled country a reality and to keep the UK at the forefront of the pack in this emerging technology.
To ensure such leadership, the greatest ability we can develop is the safety and reliability of these systems. This will ensure that the public and businesses have the confidence they need to confidently adopt this technology and fully realize its benefits. This is exactly what this task force will prioritize.
The task force will be chaired by a lead expert, who will be announced later in the summer. Matt Clifford, Head of the Agency for Advanced Research and Innovation, will advise the Prime Minister and the Technology Secretary on staff development during appointment.
Enterprise models rely on significant computing power, and this investment comes on top of around £900m for a new exascale supercomputer and research resource dedicated to AI to provide the UK with the processing power it needs to support the next generation of AI innovations. The task force will play a critical role in ensuring that the multi-year core funding announced in the account budget is strategically invested to prioritize and strengthen the UK’s capacity in foundation models.
The task force will ensure that UK capability in this region is rapidly evolving with safety and reliability at its core, in line with the approach set out in the AI regulation white paper published last month.
Doug Gore, President of the Alan Turing Institute, added his comments: We congratulate the government on this exciting investment that will keep the UK at the forefront of this transformative technology and we look forward to continuing to work with all relevant partners to help with development. Hack AI applications in a safe, reliable, trustworthy and ethical way.
Mark Warner, CEO of the College, concluded: Artificial intelligence is an era-defining technology that – if deployed safely and responsibly – will revolutionize the way we live and work. To reap the rewards and manage the risks, the UK urgently needs the public and private sectors to work together effectively to seize the huge opportunities from the foundational models. We welcome the vision of seed funding towards this goal, which will help ensure secure deployment and protect national security, while harnessing the power of AI to transform public services.
The funding follows on the heels of Business Connect, an event that brings government and industry together to focus on making Britain the most innovative economy in the world. DSIT Secretary of State George Freeman led a panel on the Government’s work in digital technology and life sciences, and spoke with the Chancellor about how these high priority sectors can help accelerate economic growth across the UK.