UK Government £1bn Deal for AI Industry : The UK Government has sealed a £1 billion deal with more than 50 businesses and organisation that will put the nation at the forefront of the AI industry. The deal also includes more than £300 million of newly allocated government funding for AI research.

This deal builds on the commitment made in the Industrial Strategy for its AI Grand Challenge and it represents the first phase of a major innovation-focused investment in the AI, which aims to help the UK economy by seizing the £232 billion opportunity AI offers by 2030.

One of the goals is to establish the UK as a research hotspot by investing in the high level post graduate skills needed to capitalise on technology’s huge potential. Money will be used to train 8,000 specialist computer science teachers, 1,000 government-funded AI PhDs by 2025 and a commitment to develop a prestigious global Turing Fellowship programme to attract and retain the best research talent in AI to the UK.

The Government will provide £20 million of funding to help the UK’s service industries, including law and insurance, with new pilot projects to identify how AI can transform and enhance their operations. The uptake of AI through businesses will be supported with an additional £21 million, which will see the transformation of Tech City UK into Tech Nation, creating a world-leading network of high growth regional tech hubs across the country.

A world-leading Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation will ensure that all AI developments in Britain are conducted to the highest ethical standards. The £9 million centre will address the challenges posed by the adoption of AI and will advise on the measures needed to enable and ensure safe, ethical and innovative uses of data-driven technologies, while helping protect consumers.

The AI sector deal will not only support new adopters of AI, but it will help the UK’s trailblazing companies who are already embracing this tech and using it to create clusters of expertise, high-skill jobs and investing in developing this technology.

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