What the AI Opportunities Action Plan could mean for the UK

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has unveiled the AI Opportunities Action Plan. We spoke to the experts to find out what would make it work

In a speech on January 13, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

The plan is estimated to deliver 13,250 jobs, according to the government, with a focus is on maximising growth, innovation and opportunities. Starmer said that small businesses could use it for faster planning and record keeping.

Critics are voicing concerns over budget and implementation, especially against a backdrop of rising borrowing costs and the diminishing pound sterling.

What do I need to know about the AI Opportunities Action plan?

The government website boils down the plan into six key steps:

  • Set out, within six months, a long-term plan for the UK’s AI infrastructure needs, backed by a 10-year investment commitment
  • Expand the capacity of the AI Research Resource (AIRR) by at least 20x by 2030 – starting within six months
  • Strategically allocate sovereign compute by appointing mission-focused “AIRR programme directors” with significant autonomy
  • Establish ‘AI Growth Zones’ (AIGZs) to facilitate the accelerated build out of AI data centres
  • Mitigate the sustainability and security risks of AI infrastructure, while positioning the UK to take advantage of opportunities to provide solutions
  • Agree international compute partnerships with like-minded countries to increase the types of compute capability available to researchers and catalyse research collaborations

Read the plan in more detail here

What the experts say

As you can imagine, leaders in the tech space had a thing or two to say about these plans. Here’s what they told Information Age:

Can the UK do it?

Many have emphasised that the plan is ‘ambitious’, but it needs action in terms of infrastructure and budget in order to make it happen.

Sean Kane, co-founder and chairman of startup growth network, F6S

“World-beating AI founders build world-beating AI companies. Adding more buildings and bringing in foreign champions can be helpful, but the way to win the AI race is for top startup founders to see the UK as best for funding, talent, taxes and regulation. For example, the increased government demand for AI services must benefit a new generation of innovative startups instead of the usual enterprise sellers.”

Calum Chace, co-founder, Conscium

“Transforming the UK into a world leader in AI is highly ambitious, given how far ahead the US and China are. However, companies and countries that adopt AI quickly and wisely will outperform their competitors and this is a great initiative by the government, which plays to the UK’s exceptional AI talent pool.

“The challenge is that staying at the forefront of AI is incredibly expensive and the UK government currently lacks any budgetary headroom. The UK can’t overtake Silicon Valley, but it can take a lead in some of the newer areas of opportunity, such as research into conscious AI.”

Patrick Sullivan, chairman of the Parliament Street think tank 

“It’s encouraging to see the government put AI at the heart of its growth agenda, but with businesses grappling with stubborn inflation, high interest rates, incoming NI rises, much more needs to be done to support adoption, particularly for smaller firms.

“Against this backdrop, £14bn is a drop in the ocean, and should serve as an initial foundation marker that is increased when the public finances allow it.”

Nigel Church, CEO of Emerge Digital, said:

“The £14 billion investment is a good start, but it needs to be five times that to truly reflect the growth and cost-saving potential of AI. The UK’s global leadership in cyber was built on investment in localised centres of excellence, so focusing investment through AI Growth Zones is a smart approach.”

Use of data

Use of personal data and using appropriate data responsibly have emerged as key concerns, even by those who are behind the plan.

Mark Nichols, senior associate of IP Solicitor, Potter Clarkson

“The AI Opportunities Action Plan is an ambitious statement of intent in relation to the UK and AI. But as always with AI, there are legal reasons for caution. The government appears to be leaning towards backing the use of sensitive and copyright-protected data in training and developing AI, which will put people on high alert about privacy and copyright.

“While elements, such as a national data library and changes to the scope of the text and data mining copyright exception are starting to crystallise, the details of these changes are sure to be front and centre of legal discussions about the government’s ambitions.” 

Peter Finnie, partner and UK & European patent attorney, Potter Clarkson

“The government’s plans to sell data from a national data library to tech firms is not an altogether new proposition. It sits alongside last year’s update to UK IPO practice guidelines for the body’s examination of AI inventions, which made them more difficult to protect in the UK than elsewhere.

“While people are rightly concerned about copyright and data privacy, the UK also needs a holistic policy to provide incentives to innovate and that must include a sympathetic patent system that doesn’t exclude vast swathes of AI-implemented innovation from being patentable.” 

Khyati Sundaram, CEO of ethical AI hiring experts Applied

“AI has immense potential to drive efficiencies. The government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan recognises this. But in industries where the decisions being made by AI are life-altering – including healthcare, education and hiring – we need to make sure we’re using it ethically and not wielding models trained on garden-variety data.

“Models must be underpinned by data which is free from historical biases. They must also be explainable and monitored, so that teams can correct for any rogue, biased results. The alternative risks perpetuating existing inequalities – not the improved vision of society which the Government outlines in its AI action plan.”

Growth zones

The prospect of AI growth zones, in places like post-industrial towns and coastal Scotland, is promising to some commentators.

Allan Kaye, co-founder of Vesper Technologies (Vespertec)

“It’s exciting to hear the government unveiling plans for new AI Growth Zones, I’d hope to see these opportunities spread across the country. From the Kao data centre in Manchester, to Durham’s supercomputer ambitions, the North is ready to grasp the opportunity! It has the skills base, the expertise, and the drive to carry the torch for Britain’s AI ambitions.

“Large firms will play a key role in this Action Plan, but so will SMEs, scale-ups, and academic spinouts that are innovating at the cutting edge. We would love to see AI Growth Zones that enable that collaboration and allow organisations of all sizes to participate in and support this programme.”

Intensive water and energy use

The energy and water use of AI remains a point of contention, but there could be ways around it.

Sam Nasrolahi, principal, InMotion Ventures

“AI’s water consumption mustn’t get lost amongst other more salient sustainability metrics within the government’s newly announced AI Energy Council – set up as part of its AI Opportunities Action Plan. The average data centre uses 1.8 litres of water per kWh, but the intensive cooling requirements for AI workloads can push this figure much higher. Usage per data centre varies dramatically based on size and efficiency, ranging from 10s to 100s million litres annually – a large and growing level of demand that we are not yet equipped for and where water is often taken from areas facing water scarcity. Therefore, the role of AI in worsening global water scarcity cannot be underestimated.

“The wildfires that continue to devastate Los Angeles have called attention to the increasingly frequent extreme weather and water shortages the world is seeing. This, combined with our increasing need for compute, demonstrates the pressing need to reduce AI’s high-water consumption. With this in mind, it’s vital that finding new and innovative ways to satisfy data centres’ insatiable demand for water is top of the agenda for the AI Energy Council.” 

Nick New, CEO of Optalysys

The government’s ambitions to underpin our economy with AI are very encouraging. The UK has the opportunity to take a globally leading position on the use of AI and the next generation technology that will be used to power it. As AI becomes ever more prevalent in society, its implementation and how our data is used to train models is critical. New methods for protecting data in use such as Fully Homomorphic Encryption will become part of the fabric of AI processing.

The UK can become the standard bearer for responsible and ethical AI – from both a technical and regulatory standpoint – and we look forward to working with government to realising this potential. The demand to create ever larger models is already at the point where nuclear power is being considered for the training of models. Energy efficient technology such as photonics is being developed to help meet the compute requirements and the UK has the opportunity to build on the solid expertise we have to drive the production of optical interconnects and processors to power this revolution.”

Richard Clifford, director of solutions for Keysource

Data centres, vital for AI’s computational needs, will be crucial to the plan’s success, further raising concerns around energy usage. Beyond ensuring power is sourced from renewable sources, there is a significant yet underutilised opportunity in reusing the heat generated by data centres. Instead of treating this heat as waste, it can be redirected to local District Heating Networks, reducing overall energy consumption while benefiting nearby communities. The site selection phase is critical to ensuring these centres are strategically placed near heat consumers to maximise this potential.

Cybersecurity

After some high profile cyber attacks in 2024, nailing cybersecurity measures is crucial.

Dan Harris, director of Robert Walters London

“Whilst this initiative positions the government as a strong supporter of leveraging AI to fuel economic growth, this mustn’t come at the expense of our security or privacy. According to Robert Walters data, job postings calling for cybersecurity skillsets have increased by almost a third in the past year. This is unsurprising as new cyberthreats are being reported on daily. To fully harness the success of scaling AI capabilities in the UK, the government must also call for our cybersecurity measures to be equally enhanced.”

Richard Clifford, director of solutions for Keysource

The government must prioritise cybersecurity and physical security measures for AI infrastructure. Robust disaster recovery protocols and formalised regulation of AI and its infrastructure are matters of national security, ensuring the safety and continuity of the UK’s AI ambitions against evolving threats.”

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Anna Jordan

Anna is Senior Reporter, covering topics affecting SMEs such as grant funding, managing employees and the day-to-day running of a business.