Reeves tells AI entrepreneurs to ‘come to the UK’ as she unveils new institute
The Chancellor told entrepreneurs looking to develop new AI products to “come to the UK” after announcing plans to create a new economics institute and £500m fund focusing on technology.
Rachel Reeves has stressed the importance of scaling British AI businesses to avoid over-reliance on other countries for new technologies, announcing the establishment of the new institute and further investment in AI at the annual Mais Conference at the Bayes Business School in London.
The AI economics institute will focus on monitoring the impact of new technology on the UK’s productivity and job markets.
This was the second of three “big choices” announced in the UK’s speech at the G7, where it set out its aim to adopt artificial intelligence as quickly as possible.
“We will support you to experiment to push the boundaries of possibilities and bring your product, your creation, to life,” he told entrepreneurs as he announced a £500 million commitment to launch and scale AI start-ups in Britain.
His announcement comes amid a period of global turbulence, with the UK facing rising energy prices and economic shocks caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran.
But the Chancellor said he hoped investment in AI would help provide greater resilience to these global shocks.
While Ms Reeves acknowledged widespread concern about developments in artificial intelligence, she said the UK should not shy away from investing in the technology and “leave it to other countries whose values may differ from ours” to shape the development of the sector.
