Have you heard; the UK Government are implementing a National AI Strategy to boost the UK’s position as a global science superpower.

Aim > Attract foreign investment, the next generation of tech talent and to boost the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Currently, the technology industry accounts for 5.5% of the UK economy, and approximately 2 million tech workers were employed in 2021 (CompTIA).

AI technology helps us with navigation and day to day tasks. Some examples include fingerprint recognition, self-driving cars, and smart assistants. AI can help keep business costs low and support the team when there’s a talent shortage. There is currently a technology skills gap within the UK which has led to 17% of UK employees being reskilled for AI, the global percentage for this is 38%. 

AI has also seen a huge amount of investment, including a staggering £13.5 billion from global investors into 1400 private technology firms between January and June 2022.

So, what is the government’s plan?

Since 2014, the government have invested more than £2.3 billion into the sector. 

The aim is to create a 10-year plan to push AI technologies into more sectors across the UK.

83% of UK businesses already use some form of AI, and many could benefit from the technology. For example, implementing AI chat boxes could save a business nearly 40 hours a week.

Another part of the strategy is to support the MOD (Military of Defence). Their 3-pillar strategy focuses on ambition, innovation, and responsibility. For example, devices will be given to analyse drone data in real time.

In response to this, the UK Government has stated they will be rolling out a new visa ‘to attract the world’s best AI talent to the UK’, the details surrounding this are yet to be announced. This will be a massive step for UK tech industry and will help combat the skills gap we’re dealing with.

With anything, tech included, rules need to be in place for the protection and security of society. The UK Court has recently announced they have denied AI to patent inventions. This means humans own this invention, stating ‘only a person can have rights, a machine cannot’.

There are still finer details yet to be released on the overall AI strategy, but we can’t wait to see what the next stage of UK Innovation may look like.

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Read our previous blogpost here