Over the past view months the Research & Development Society has been preparing the basis of its initiative on Forging the UK's AI Future, conducting its own research and consulting with industry experts. We are now ready to open up our work for review and critique from all who are interested with the release of the consultation draft of our report.
Read our top-level conclusions below:
Overall, the UK is well positioned to take a leading role in the future global AI economy. It has a well-developed infrastructure, a highly trained workforce and an excellent investment environment for new innovation. It is, however, still at risk of missing out on the depth of potential it holds if it fails to develop leverage against the interest of other international players.
First of all, the government’s talk of sovereignty needs to move beyond soundbites, there is some progress in this area in supporting UK companies, but it needs to be demonstrated across all of government. This may result in trade-offs of accepting lower international investment from leading markets like the USA and gambling on more unseasoned local firms when awarding contracts.
Pursuing this objective in an orderly manner will further require a much clearer picture of how the government imagines its future vision for the UK with regards to AI. It is unlikely that the final reality will perfectly resemble this vision, but its presence can inform initiatives across every department and ensure they are working towards the same objectives. This vision needs to consider the shape of the future UK technology markets, labour force and information environment at a minimum. While a “principles-based” approach to regulation can work, the defined principles need to contain the clarity for regulators to make decisions with the confidence that they are backed by the public.
Finally, integrating these new capabilities into government will require more resources to be directed towards building digital infrastructure. While relying on the private sector firms can provide cost-effective short-term solutions, they often fail to fully deliver the required capabilities and remove the potential for the state to develop much needed capacity in-house.
Designing a strategy for any form of industrial revolution is inevitably steeped in unknowns that reveal pitfalls for every opportunity. The UK has shown promise with its willingness to be a first-mover amongst the competition but until it can develop some much-needed focus, its future with regards to AI will remain a gamble.
This report will form the backbone of the Research and Development Society’s (RDS) programme on Forging the UK’s AI Future programme. As we progress with consultations with industrial, academic and civil society experts this report will be revised and expanded, incorporating insight from across the country into a complete platform to pursue the UK’s AI strategy.
Please send any comments, corrections and suggested additions to the RDS’ Chief Operating Officer, Jamie Phadke at jamie.phadke@rdsoc.org or one of our contributing directors.