In 2023, the U.K. made a big song and dance about the need to consider the harms of AI, giving itself a leading role in the wider conversation around AI safety. Now, it’s whistling a very different tune: today, the government announced a sweeping plan and a big bet on AI investments to develop what it calls a “decade of national renewal.”
Included in the so-called “Plan for Change” will be a commitment to invest in AI to speed up public sector services; set up geographic “AI Growth Zones” to greenlight the building of AI infrastructure such as data centres and R&D areas; and a claim that private tech firms have pledged investments of £14 billion ($17 billion) and the creation of 13,250 jobs to meet this goal.
