The Government published its long awaited National AI Strategy on 22nd September.
The Executive Summary highlights the three key assumptions behind the strategy.
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the fastest growing deep technology in the world, with huge potential to rewrite the rules of entire industries, drive substantial economic growth and transform all areas of life. The UK is a global superpower in AI and is well placed to lead the world over the next decade as a genuine research and innovation powerhouse, a hive of global talent and a progressive regulatory and business environment.
Many of the UK’s successes in AI were supported by the 2017 Industrial Strategy, which set out the government’s vision to make the UK a global centre for AI innovation. In April 2018, the government and the UK’s AI ecosystem agreed a near £1 billion AI Sector Deal to boost the UK’s global position as a leader in developing AI technologies. This new National AI Strategy builds on the UK’s strengths but also represents the start of a step-change for AI in the The UK, recognising the power of AI to increase resilience, productivity, growth and innovation across the private and public sectors. This is how we will prepare the UK for the next ten years, and is built on three assumptions about the coming decade:
- The key drivers of progress, discovery and strategic advantage in AI are access to people, data, compute and finance – all of which face huge global competition;
- AI will become mainstream in much of the economy and action will be required to ensure every sector and region of the UK benefit from this transition;
- Our governance and regulatory regimes will need to keep pace with the fast-changing demands of AI, maximising growth and competition, driving UK excellence in innovation, and protecting the safety, security, choices and rights of our citizens.
The UK’s National AI Strategy therefore aims to:
- Invest and plan for the long-term needs of the AI ecosystem to continue our leadership as a science and AI superpower;
- Support the transition to an AI-enabled economy, capturing the benefits of innovation in the UK, and ensuring AI benefits all sectors and regions;
- Ensure the UK gets the national and international governance of AI technologies right to encourage innovation, investment, and protect the public and our fundamental values.
This will be best achieved through broad public trust and support, and by the involvement of the diverse talents and views of society.”
Certification & Tax Credits
However, Niels Thone, CEO and Founder of software firm Sprout.ai questioned whether there is enough in the plans to support UK startups. “The government could also consider granting certifications to companies that are using AI, similar to an ISO,” Thone said.
“This would help tech startups that meet certain standards to secure the trust of big enterprise looking to deploy AI technologies. The most significant and impactful move the Government could make to establish the UK as a world leader in AI, would be to become a buyer of AI itself as well as give tax credits to organisations or enterprises that buy AI from government-certified AI vendors.”
MSC R&D
MSC are specialists in software R&D Tax Credit claims. Many of our clients’ R&D plans are built around AI, and we have a broad and deep understanding of this technology and its applications.
Any scheme that encourages increased investment in AI, with regulation to ensure consistent standards are met, is potentially a good idea.
