The Labour government has unveiled a 50-point plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help drive efficiency and growth across the UK economy.
The AI Opportunities Action Plan introduces new measures to create what the government calls “dedicated AI Growth Zones”, which it said speeds up planning permission for AI-led initiatives.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that – if AI is fully embraced – it can boost productivity by as much as 1.5 percentage points a year. If fully realised, these gains could be worth up to an average £47bn to the UK each year over a decade.
The government described its AI plan as an approach that revolutionises public services, which puts more money in people’s back pockets.
Announcing the AI Opportunities Action Plan, prime minister Keir Starmer said: “Artificial intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. But the AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.
“Our plan will make Britain the world leader. It will give the industry the foundation it needs and will turbocharge the Plan for Change,” he said. “That means more jobs and investment in the UK, more money in people’s pockets, and transformed public services.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves described the action plan as “the government’s modern industrial strategy in action”.
Science, innovation and technology secretary Peter Kyle said: “This government is determined that the UK is not left behind in the global race for AI, that’s why the actions we commit to will ensure that the benefits are spread throughout the UK so all citizens will reap the rewards of the bet we make today. This is how we’re putting our Plan for Change in motion.”
The first of the AI Growth Zones is in Culham, Oxfordshire, which will host a new supercomputer, increasing the public compute capacity by twentyfold to support AI workloads. The government said that a new team is being established to develop the UK’s sovereign AI capabilities. The supercomputer is part of a 10-year plan to develop the UK’s computing and AI capabilities.
Along with developing the UK’s sovereign AI capabilities, the government plans to set up a digital centre of government in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, focused on revolutionising the use of AI in the public sector.
It’s also creating a National Data Library, to provide a mechanism for accessing public data safely and securely to support AI development.
A dedicated AI Energy Council chaired by the Science and Energy Secretaries will also be established, working with energy companies to understand the energy demands and challenges that will fuel the technology’s development. This will directly support the government’s mission to become a clean energy superpower by tapping into technologies such as small modular reactors.
Alongside the plan, the government discussed a number of new private sector AI investments. These include Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl, which have committed to £14bn investment in the UK to build the AI infrastructure the UK needs to harness the potential of this technology and deliver 13,250 jobs across the UK.
Vantage Data Centres plans to invest over £12bn in datacentres across the UK – creating over 11,500 jobs in the process. Kyndryl said it plans to create up to 1,000 AI-related jobs in Liverpool over the next three years. Nscale has invested £2.5bn in building what it called the largest UK sovereign AI datacentre in Loughton, Essex by 2026.
