The UK government is calling on UK AI experts to bring their “boldest” and “ambitious proposals" to the table.
The UK government has committed up to £40m to discover the UK’s AI “breakthroughs” of tomorrow, as it looks to rev up its sovereign AI credentials.
A UK government-backed lab will support the effort, backed by up to £40m to invest in “blue sky AI research“.
The funding will be made available over six years for the Fundamental AI Research Lab, along with access to AI compute capacity worth tens of millions of pounds, the government said.
The UK government said it is looking to unlock breakthrough tech across healthcare, transport, science and everyday tech.
The UK government is calling on the UK’s AI experts to bring their “boldest” and “ambitious proposals” to the table.
Applications for funding will be assessed by a peer review panel chaired by Raia Hadsell, a researcher at Google DeepMind.
Last year, the government announced its Sovereign AI Unit, backed by nearly £500m in investment, to help build and scale AI capabilities on British shores, which is to be chaired by Balderton’s James Wise.
AI minister Kanishka Narayan said: “AI is already doing things we could never have imagined just a few years ago, like helping to diagnose cancer. It can and will do even more – but if we want this technology to be a force for good, we need to make sure the next big AI breakthroughs are made in Britain.
“This is a long-term investment in the brilliant minds who will keep the UK in the AI fast lane. If we are the ones breaking new ground on what AI can do, we can make sure our values are baked in from the outset. This is a critical part of our mission to make AI work for everyone.”
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