Artificial intelligence (AI) presents “one of the greatest opportunities” for the UK, according to prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Sunak was at London Tech Week, where he told attendees: “Combined with the computational power of quantum we could be on the precipice of discovering cures for diseases like cancer and dementia or ways to grow crops that could feed the entire world.”
He said “the possibilities are extraordinary” with AI – but it must be used safely.
“I know people are concerned,” he said. “The very pioneers of AI are warning us about the ways these technologies could undermine our values and freedoms through to the most extreme risks of all. And that’s why leading on AI also means leading on AI safety.”
New partnership announced
Sunak announced a new partnership between academia, AI companies, and government, based on three pillars.
The first is undertaking “cutting edge” safety research in the UK.
“With £100 million for our expert taskforce, we’re dedicating more funding to AI safety than any other government,” he said.
The government is working with Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic on the initiative. Sunak said they have “committed to give early or priority access to models for research and safety purposes to help build better evaluations and help us better understand the opportunities and risks of these systems.”
Secondly, the prime minster stressed the importance of global cooperation between nations and labs. As such, the UK will host the first Summit on global AI Safety later this year.
“I want to make the UK not just the intellectual home but the geographical home, of global AI safety regulation,” he noted.
And thirdly, Sunak said the UK is already investing “record sums” in tech, including £900 million in compute technology and £2.5 billion in quantum.
“We’re harnessing AI to transform our public services from saving teachers hundreds of hours of time spent lesson planning to helping NHS patients get quicker diagnoses and more accurate tests,” he said.
“AI can help us achieve the holy grail of public service reform: better, more efficient services.”
