British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will present 50 proposals this Monday to make the United Kingdom the “world leader” in artificial intelligence (AI).
“Test artificial intelligence before regulating it”: despite ethical and security concerns around technology, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to attract AI companies to his country with the promise of regulatory flexibility, thus distinguishing himself from the European Union. “We can go our own way, taking a uniquely British approach, which will test AI well before regulating it”said Monday in a column in the Financial Times the British leader, who must present his plan for the sector during the day.
'The UK does not need to follow the US or EU path'he adds, hoping to make his country “the best place to start and grow an AI business”. Letting the United Kingdom become an AI laboratory constitutes a gamble for the Prime Minister: if the technology takes an increasing place in daily life and the economy, its potential abuses in terms of security, disinformation or protection of data is increasingly worrying.
But faced with an economy at half mast – stagnant growth, cost of debt at its highest – the prospects for economic development linked to AI are too decisive for London to let “opportunities elude him”. Announcements of investments in the sector, for example to create data centers essential for technology, have been multiplying all over the world for months and amount to tens of billions of dollars.
Boulevard to tech giants
The United Kingdom hopes with its positioning to distinguish itself from the European Union (EU), at the forefront in terms of regulating tech giants and which has already passed legislation to regulate AI. The EU's plans for the future are already drawing criticism from the sector, including businesses on the continent. Stand out from the United States with the promise of flexible regulation «in hindsight» however, appears more complicated: an avenue seems to present itself to the tech giants with the return to the White House of Donald Trump, who has never hidden his intention to deregulate as much as possible to support his economy.
The plan which will be presented on Monday by the United Kingdom is made up of around fifty proposals, not always very concrete, such as the multiplication by 20 of the country's computing capacity by 2030, including in particular a new «superordinateur»or the creation of “AI growth zones”. Building permits will be issued quickly to build infrastructure and data storage centers.
Improving public services
Three technology companies – Vantage Data Centres, Kyndryl and Nscale – have already committed to investing £14 billion (€17 billion) in the UK, according to the government. Their projects should, according to him, create more than 13,000 jobs. Keir Starmer also imagines that AI will improve British public services, for example by optimizing appointment booking in public hospitals. In mid-December, the government gave a glimpse of a first example of its positioning in the sector, by proposing to authorize AI by default to use creative content to “to train”like music, unless the artists expressly object.
Labor believes that their conservative predecessors emphasized too much the dangers of AI, to which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak devoted a summit in 2023, to the detriment of the benefits of this technology. Keir Starmer, who came to power in July, has made reviving the economy the priority of his mandate. But he is struggling to keep his promises with a struggling economy that could force the government into new tax increases or budget cuts.
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