The UK government is investing heavily in building a homegrown rival to tech giant OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) systems, aiming to become a global leader in the field by 2030. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration has committed to increasing “sovereign” compute capacity in the country by twentyfold, with plans to establish several AI “growth zones” where data centers can be built without strict planning permission.
The government also aims to create an “AI Research Resource” and a National Data Library to connect public institutions and universities, enabling them to develop their own “sovereign” AI models that are not reliant on Silicon Valley. This move is seen as a response to the success of companies like OpenAI, which has made significant investments in AI research.
However, building a successful rival to OpenAI will be challenging due to funding issues. Many UK founders and venture capitalists have called for increased investment in startups focused on AI, with some arguing that allocating just 5% of the country’s pension funds towards innovation could solve the problem.
Despite these challenges, tech leaders such as Salesforce’s U.K. boss Zahra Bahrololoumi and Cisco’s chief technology officer Chintan Patel have praised the government’s AI action plan, citing its “bold vision” and emphasis on transparency and collaboration.
The UK is also pitching a differentiated regulatory regime for AI, with plans to introduce legislation that will allow it to regulate the use of copyrighted content in AI training. This move aims to establish the country as a positive factor in the EU’s approach to regulating AI, which has taken a more hard-line approach.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/12/britain-wants-to-become-global-ai-leader-build-domestic-openai-rival.html