The UK government is backing two new university AI labs with up to £60m in investment, which will look to develop the “next generation” of AI systems.
The funding will be shared between AI research labs at Oxford University and University College London (UCL), which will look to develop “breakthroughs” in AI on British shores.
The move comes amid a broader push by the UK government to build up its sovereign AI offering and become less reliant on US tech giants. It is hoping AI developments from the labs could make AI cheaper and easier to run for British businesses and citizens.
The UCL lab will focus on creating open-source AI that can run on widely available hardware while the University of Oxford will look to pioneer new approaches to AI without using vast centralised computing power.
The labs will build and expand partnerships across academia, industry and the public sector, the government said.
