UK investing to drive AI

Two separate announcements promise £90mln in UK investments in artificial intelligence (AI).

A UK Government announcement opens up to £40mln over six years for the Fundamental AI Research Lab, plus substantial in-kind access to the AI Research Resource compute capacity worth tens of millions of pounds.

This funding call is open for applications, with the government calling on the country’s AI experts to bring proposals forward.

Proposals can be submitted before the end of the month.

Meanwhile the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) has joined CommonAI as a member, leading and funding the Scaling Inference Lab to improve how AI systems run at scale in real-world data-centre environments.

This is supported by an initial £16mln grant, as part of a total £50mln commitment that will focus on developing the UK's scaling inference capability.

This lab will enable AI systems to be tested and improved under real-world conditions by integrating hardware, software and operational design. It will support researchers, start-ups, scale-ups and companies developing AI systems for real-world use across sectors including finance, healthcare, science and national infrastructure.