The UK Government Has Pulled The Plug On AI
The bubble is starting to pop.
Have you noticed how every company is claiming they have some new-found AI technology that apparently makes them superior, only for said AI to be utterly hollow and disappointing? Me too, and it’s half the reason why I am so sceptical of the technology. But, for the past few years, this disparity between promise and delivery hasn’t stopped governments, businesses, and investors from going all-in on AI. That is, until a few days ago, when the UK’s new Labour government pulled the plug on £1.3 billion worth of governmental investment in the UK AI industry. While this might sound like a minor story in the AI world, it might be the first domino to fall and foreshadow the upcoming burst of the AI industry.
Let’s start with where these funds came from. In the final months of his leadership, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a £1.3 billion investment in the UK AI industry, with £800 million going to a supercomputer at Edinburgh University and £500 million for AI research. This was intended to stimulate the UK economy, which has stalled since Brexit and Covid. The idea was that AI is an up-and-coming technology, and if the UK could become a hub for AI technology, it would significantly boost UK productivity, foreign investment in the UK, and the UK’s GDP.
