After 14 years of stagnating living standards, only bold bets will pay off. That’s why the UK Labour Government is going all in on AI. We welcome the AI Opportunities Action Plan and will be taking immediate action to take forward its 50 recommendations as part of our Plan for Change.
Key Recomendations include:
- Create AI Growth Zones (AIGZs) – areas with enhanced access to power and streamlined planning approvals, to accelerate the build out of AI infrastructure on UK soil. Growth Zones will pioneer innovative public-private models to deliver secure, dedicated public-sector computing capacity, supporting key national priorities, including to develop one of the UK’s largest AI data centres, beginning with 100MW of capacity and with plans to scale up to 500MW. The first pilot AI Growth Zone will be at Culham, in Oxfordshire, a world-renowned hub for clean energy and fusion research.
- Expand our sovereign compute capacity by at least 20x by 2030 – as compute needs grow such expansion is critical if the UK is to keep pace.
- Establish an AI Energy Council with industry leaders from the energy and AI sectors, which the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology will co-chair with the Energy Secretary – to provide expert insight on the energy needs of AI and the development of innovative energy solutions.
- Launch a new dedicated team tasked with strengthening our sovereign AI capabilities by supporting high-potential frontier AI companies in the UK. This team will work across Number 10 and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, partnering with fast-growing firms and leveraging every tool at our disposal to ensure they can access the compute capacity, data, and global talent they need to succeed.
The applications are boundless and the opportunities profound. But only those countries with the courage to seize them will fully benefit.
For too long we’ve been curious and often cautious bystanders. That changes now.
With this plan, we become agents of that change, capturing AI’s full benefits and turning them into real opportunities for working people.
AI sits at the heart of this government’s mission to fix the foundations of our economy, and this robust plan will ensure the UK stays ahead of the game in the global race for AI.