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On January 13, 2025, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the UK AI Opportunities Action Plan. The AI Opportunities Action Plan outlines the UK’s intentions to become a world leader in artificial intelligence technology for the benefit of private businesses and their customers as well as for all UK residents via AI-enabled public services.
In his accompanying speech, the prime minister gave examples of AI currently in use in the UK, including lifesaving blood clot detection technology to treat stroke patients, as well as examples of key areas where AI could improve the lives of UK residents, including AI teaching assistance, AI hospital waiting list technology, pothole repairs, government form filling, and personalized healthcare. To achieve this, the UK will continue to leverage private sector AI solutions while also creating bespoke solutions to address specific public sector issues.
Key Actions
The AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out a number of key actions that the government will take to make the UK a global AI hub, including the following:
- Data Centers and Technology Hubs – There will be a focus on creating data centers and technology hubs across the UK to encourage global investment in UK-developed AI. Getting the necessary power to these centers and hubs will also be a key focus.
- Planning Permissions – Planning permission for data centers and other AI-related infrastructure will be accelerated.
- Creating Public Datasets for AI – The UK will create a National Data Library that will provide large data sets to AI developers to speed up AI creation and improve its accuracy.
- Global Talent – The UK will invest in training for UK residents to upskill them for the new AI jobs that will be created. Immigration rules will also be reviewed to attract global AI talent.
- Public Services – There will be a significant focus on developing AI for use across the majority of, if not all, public services in some way. The plan states that AI should be considered as a potential solution for all public services issues and inefficiencies. This will include in-house development of AI solutions as well as leveraging the private sector solutions.
Safety and Regulation
It is clear that while the UK desires to move forward with the plan at pace, it will do so with the safe use of AI as a key focus—building on the UK’s current AI Safety Institute and supporting the UK AI assurance ecosystem. Along with international partners, the UK will lead the first-ever global AI safety test.
Safety will also be ensured through appropriate regulation, however, the UK government has made it very clear that it intends for any AI regulation in the UK to align with its pro-growth and pro-innovation ambitions. This suggests that, so far, the UK will not diverge materially from the National AI Strategy published by the prior Conservative government. This indicates that AI regulation in the UK may take a more context-specific approach than that of the EU AI Act.
Looking Ahead
If the AI Opportunities Action Plan is successful, the UK is set to become a global AI hub, attracting significant global investors and talent.
This would provide a boost for private companies to continue leveraging AI to improve their products and services to benefit both the companies and their customers and assist in revolutionizing public services with the use of AI for the benefit of all UK residents.