Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has unveiled plans for the development of the UK’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, vowing to make Britain “one of the great AI superpowers”.

A raft of proposals include new AI “growth zones”, where the construction of key infrastructure such as data centres will be prioritised, and the development of a new supercomputer to boost the UK’s computing power.

But experts have highlighted serious challenges for the government, including the huge amounts of funding AI infrastructure projects and tricky questions about data security.

While business leaders who spoke to the BBC have been broadly positive about the prime minister’s announcement, the level of investment required to stimulate the kind of activity being suggested in Monday’s action plan will be enormous.

AI needs powerful data centres to work, but Google warned in a report in September that the UK faced being “left behind” if it didn’t expand its network of such facilities.

Sir Keir has now pledged to speed up planning permission for new centres and to “remove the blockages” that hold companies back from building them.

But Dr Stephanie Hare, an AI expert said the current minimal economic growth and the spiralling cost of borrowing made it hard to see how these new centres would be funded.

She also questioned how their energy needs would be met, warning the UK’s energy grid was not “fit for purpose” if it is to meet the ambitious aspirations set out on Monday.

The prime minister did announce a new AI Energy Council to work on “innovative energy solutions” – including Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), small nuclear generators that allow a lot of power to go to remote areas – to power the industry.

Most SMR designs though aren’t yet approved in the UK.

Sana Khareghani, a former head of the government’s Office for Artificial Intelligence, does say there could be benefits to the wider economy. She told the BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme that the UK’s leadership in the renewable energy industry could help drive AI growth.

“Continuing this clean energy leadership into the AI revolution would really give the UK a fantastic advantage,” she said.

But there are significant challenges too.

Sir Keir has also announced funding for a new UK supercomputer to help drive AI development. Bur Dr Hare noted that any such project would require major funding, noting that “the UK does not have supercomputer that features among the top 50 machines globally”.

The government shelved funding plans for a new exascale supercomputer at Edinburgh University shortly after it won office last summer.

Meanwhile if the government wants to see more homegrown AI companies come to the forefront of the industry, the amounts of money involved will skyrocket.

Challenging global power players like Open AI and Google Deepmind – a UK company purchased by the Silicon Valley giant in 2014 – will require eye-watering amounts of capital investment.

Throughout his speech, the prime minister emphasised the potential benefits of integrating AI into the National Health Service (NHS) and its potential to shift healthcare from a reactive model to a more preventative one, helping save the NHS money in the long-term.

He said a new national data library would collect anonymised health data.

But it’s still not clear what kind of information will be collected – with Sir Keir saying simply that it was “important that we keep control of that data”.

Dr Hare told the BBC that where data is concerned the “questions that we need to know are all in the detail”.

“Which companies are going to have access to that [data], including foreign companies,” she said. “Are you going to be able to opt out, what’s the cyber security protections that are in place?”

During his speech, Sir Keir emphasised that his government would take a more aggressive approach to the development of AI than the European Union has.

Major tech companies have previously criticised the EU’s approach claiming that it hinders growth and hampers innovation.

Under the AI Act introduced by the EU last August, systems considered “high-risk”, in critical infrastructure, education, healthcare, law enforcement, border management or elections, will have to comply with strict requirements set out by lawmakers.

Sir Keir says the UK would “go our own way on this”, and would regulate in a way that was “pro-growth and pro-innovation”.

And while the prime minister said he backed the AI Safety Institute set up by the last government, he suggested the Conservatives may have adopted an overbearing approach to AI safety.

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Former Prime Minster Rishi Sunak had warned of the threat of humanity losing control over AI systems.

Sir Keir said the UK would “test and understand AI before we regulate it,” adding that new restrictions on the technology would be “proportionate and grounded in the science”.

But could this stance make the government a hostage to fortune. Lots of different technologies come under the banner of AI. Where safety is concerned, some areas are more robust than others. If one of the less robust applications of AI makes a mistake, it has the potential to undermine the whole endeavour.

Dr Hare challenged Sir Keir’s change from the previous government’s position on safety, asking “what has changed in a year” where the government warned of the serious risks of unregulated AI systems during the summit at Bletchley Park.

“We really need to take the public with us. You can’t scare people like that, and then tell them to stop worrying about supposedly small risks.”

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