Report
AI Roadmap
An independent report, carried out by the AI Council, providing recommendations to help the government’s strategic direction on AI.
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes embedded in people’s lives, the UK finds itself at a pivotal moment. Estimates show that AI could deliver a 10% increase in UK GDP in 2030. If approached correctly, this would offer huge benefits to the economy, to recovery and resilience, the environment and for people from all walks of life across all parts of the UK. This summary report by the AI Council sets out longterm ambitions and suggests near-term directions for all government departments, with the aim of cementing the UK as one of the very best places in the world to live with, work with and develop AI.
The UK starts from a place of strength in research, enterprise and regulation, and with its history of recent support for AI it stands among the best in the world. The UK government’s ambition should push for scale and reliability in areas of unique advantage. To be influential in attracting talent, shaping global markets and global governance we call on the government to build a UK National AI strategy that scales up its investment for a decade and beyond.
This report has two underlying messages. The first is that we need to “double down” on recent investment the UK has made in AI. The second message is that we must look to the horizon and be adaptable to disruption. Support for AI needs to reflect the rapid pace and evolution of the science & technology and its applications.
This means staying at the forefront of the development of AI and integrating approaches to ethics, security and social impacts and planning for the next 10-50 years. The UK will only feel the full benefits of AI if all parts of society have full confidence in the science and the technologies, and in the governance and regulation that enable them. That confidence will depend on the existence of systems that ensure full accountability, clear ethics and transparency. Developing the best science and the most robust applications requires commitment to an ambitious programme of investment in talent; one that promotes cutting edge skills and does so in ways that makes AI accessible in ways that are more diverse and inclusive.
Given the breadth and significance of potential AI applications, this Roadmap is concerned with overcoming the challenges of enabling change. It sets out suggested directions across four pillars: Research, Development & Innovation; Skills and Diversity, and Data, Infrastructure and Public Trust – and then, in the final section, addresses some specific measures to support adoption and the key areas of health, climate and defence.
This Roadmap and its recommendations reflects the views of the Council as well as 100+ additional experts. We recognise it will not be possible to achieve all at once, and this is why a National AI Strategy is needed to prioritise and set a time frame that will position the UK for success. In order to support the government, we are ready to convene workshops with the wider ecosystem in order to capture more detail and work together to ensure that a future National AI Strategy enables the whole of the UK to flourish.
