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Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The writer is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Artificial intelligence is the defining opportunity of our generation. It's not the next technology. It's already here, materially changing people's lives. It prevents disease in our NHS. It creates new and exciting companies in our economy. It pushes the boundaries of scientific discovery at our universities. This motivates this government's plan to transform the country.
Take the NHS waiting times. We will use AI to shorten these appointments by quickly filling and rescheduling appointments that patients can no longer make. Or take your children's education. We will expand opportunities for teachers to use AI to tailor lessons specifically to your child's needs. The possibilities are endless. AI can support small businesses by keeping their records. It can detect potholes more quickly. It could help speed up planning applications to build Britain back. And it continues. In the coming years, hardly any aspect of our society will remain the same.
Britain should be excited about this. On the one hand, it offers credible hope of achieving a long-desired increase in public sector productivity. Nurses, social workers, teachers, police officers – for millions of frontline workers, AI can give them the precious gift of time. This means they can refocus on the care and communication aspects of their work that are often buried under bureaucracy. This is the wonderful paradox of AI in the public sector. It provides an opportunity to make services appear more human.
Likewise, as the world's third-largest AI market, Britain is well placed to benefit from growth opportunities. Many major AI companies already call Britain home. Our universities are crowded with scientific talent. We have a thriving technology ecosystem that includes some of the best entrepreneurs on the planet. our Amnesty International The safety infrastructure is truly world-leading. Our values of democracy, open trade and the rule of law are well suited to this test. Our values are critical to the free exchange of ideas needed to maximize the potential of AI.
However, we cannot sit idly by and wait for the competition to catch up. The global race to lead AI is fast and getting faster. Some countries will make breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and export them to the world. It will be left to others to purchase and import those breakthroughs. I don't think the government should be passive or neutral on this – this is the bread and butter of the industry policy. Artificial Intelligence is the greatest force for change in the world right now. I am determined to harness it to usher in a golden age of public service reform. I am determined that the UK will be the best place to start and scale an AI business. I know that growth in this area cannot be led by the state. But it is certainly the government's duty to ensure that appropriate conditions are in place.
That's why, within days of our election, I commissioned venture capitalist Matt Clifford to develop a plan to harness AI's limitless potential. Today, we are launching that plan and moving forward to deliver results.
We will create new areas for AI growth and breathe new life into former industrial sites across the country. We will increase public sector computerization – the engine of AI power – by a factor of at least 20. We will create a gold standard system for data access, with a national data library, a clear and reliable copyright system, and a new unlocking design. The innovation potential of NHS data. We will overcome the ridiculous barriers in our planning system that prevent billions from being invested in the data centers and network connectors that AI relies on.
We should not be mistaken that these reforms are already bearing fruit. On Monday alone, Vantage Data Centers confirmed it will invest more than £12 billion in new data centers across the country, including building one of Europe's largest data centers in Wales. This is supposed to create 11,500 jobs in the field of artificial intelligence and construction. It is a sign of things to come.
Because Britain should not only be excited about artificial intelligence, but confident in itself. We don't need to go the way of the US or the EU on regulating AI. We can go our own way, following a distinctively British approach that will test AI long before it is regulated, so that everything we do is proportionate and grounded in regulation. Science. Alongside this, he offered investors the stability, realism and common sense they expect from British democratic values.
Simply put, this is our message to anyone working in AI: take a look at Britain. Our ambition is to be your best government partner anywhere in the world. We can see the future, and we run toward it and support our builders. Because we know that AI has arrived as the ultimate force for change and national renewal.
