LONDON, UK – JUNE 12: The 9th Artificial Intelligence Summit kicked off in London, UK on June 12, 2024, with the participation of international technology companies.
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The British government has canceled a £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) computing infrastructure project, dealing a major setback to the country’s ambitions to become a world leader in artificial intelligence.
A government spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that two major taxpayer-funded spending commitments – worth £500m and £800m respectively – will be abandoned to prioritize other fiscal plans.
The £500m pledged by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government last year will go towards artificial intelligence research resources, a development program aimed at strengthening the UK’s computing infrastructure.
Meanwhile, an £800 million commitment also announced last year will fund the creation of a next-generation exascale computer at the University of Edinburgh, capable of performing one trillion calculations per second.
These initiatives will increase the UK’s ability to build high-performance infrastructure capable of running advanced artificial intelligence models, which consume large amounts of electricity and require large amounts of training data.
The newly elected Labor government says none of these promises will now be fulfilled.
“We are absolutely committed to building the technology infrastructure that delivers growth and opportunity for the British people,” a spokesperson for the UK Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) told CNBC via email.
The spokesman added that the government was making “difficult and necessary spending decisions across all departments” in the face of billions of pounds of unfunded commitments.
“This is critical to restoring economic stability and achieving our national growth mission,” a DSIT spokesperson said.
Last month, the government launched its Artificial Intelligence Opportunities Action Plan. It said the plan would seek to identify how the UK can enhance its computing infrastructure to better meet its needs, and consider how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies can best support the UK’s industrial strategy.
Earlier this week, UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves revealed that Labor had inherited an estimated £22 billion (about $28 billion) in unfunded commitments from the centre-right Conservatives, before announcing deep spending cuts .
Under Sunak’s government, which has made leading the field in artificial intelligence a priority, it hosted the Global AI Security Summit at the famous Bletchley Park country house, once the site of World War II codebreakers who helped Britain defeat Nazi Germany. the location of the person.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is looking to introduce new laws and regulations for the artificial intelligence industry, while his predecessor chose not to publish formal legislation for artificial intelligence on the grounds that it would limit innovation.
The Labor government is widely expected to announce the UK’s first-ever Artificial Intelligence Bill during a speech by King Charles III last month. However, this did not happen. A DSIT spokesperson told CNBC that the government will consult on plans to regulate artificial intelligence in due course.
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