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 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 the 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 announced a series of cut the expenses After it was revealed that Labor inherited an estimated £22 billion ($28 billion) of unfunded pledges from the centre-right Conservatives.
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. location of the person.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is looking to introduce new regulations Contrary to his predecessors, he has chosen not to issue 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.
