The U.K. Government is All Set To Talk With AI Chip Makers

According to a recent Bloomberg report released on August 20, 2023, the United Kingdom had a talk with the leading tech firms over Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips. The report states that the U.K. government officially talked with the leading AI chip makers about “procuring equipment for national artificial intelligence research.”

As per the report, the three tech firms are Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), and NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA). All these three firms are famed names in the tech world. On the other hand, with the support of these tech firms, the U.K. is showing its efforts toward AI technology.

AI Development in The U.K.

According to The Telegraph, a national British daily broadsheet newspaper, “Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the U.K., is to spend up to £100 Million or $130 Million of taxpayer money on thousands of high-powered artificial intelligence chips in an effort to catch up in a global race for computing power.”

The U.K. aims to build an “AI Research Resource” by mid-2024 as part of Sunak’s plan to make the country an AI tech hub. The government is reportedly sourcing chips from the tech firms NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD. Meanwhile, it can be said that “the science funding body UK Research and Innovation, is in the late stages of ordering 5,000 NVIDIA graphic processing units (GPUs).”

As $130 Million has been allocated to the project, the funds are reportedly seen as insufficient to match Sunak’s artificial intelligence hub ambition. This further means that government officials could pressure more funding in an upcoming November AI safety summit.

Later in March 2023, an independent review of the U.K.’s artificial intelligence computing capabilities mentioned that investment in space is “seriously lagging” behind international counterparts in the United States and European Union.

AI White Paper Launched by U.K. Government

As mentioned in its official white paper released in March 2023, the U.K. government launched an AI white paper that guides the use of artificial technology in the country. It also “drives responsible innovation and maintains public trust in this revolutionary technology.”

It has also set out a new approach to regulating artificial intelligence to build public trust in emerging technologies. This also makes it easier for businesses to innovate, grow and create jobs.

The plan mentioned in the white paper will also help “to unleash the benefits of artificial intelligence, one of the five technologies of tomorrow, which already contributes £3.7 Billion or $4.7 Billion to the U.K. economy.”

Moreover, it further follows a new expert task force “to build the UK’s capabilities in foundation models, including large language models like ChatGPT, and £2 Million or $2.5 Million for sandbox trials to help businesses test artificial intelligence rules before getting to market.”