PM Rishi Sunak pitches UK as geographical home of AI regulation

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak touted the tech world on Monday, casting the UK as a global hub for artificial intelligence and technology regulation.

“If we are to not only maintain our status as one of the world’s tech capitals, but go further and make it the best country in the world to grow and invest in tech businesses, we have to act quickly,” Sunak said. ,” said a packed technology conference in London on Monday.

“I have a sense of urgency and responsibility to make sure we see things because one of my five priorities is growing our economy. The more we innovate, the more we grow.”

Sunak added: “I want the UK to be not just the intellectual home, but the geographic home of global AI safety regulation.”

The UK is trying to compete with the global giants in AI, one of the most hyped areas of technology right now with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other generative AI tools emerging.

Separately, the country is positioning itself as the “next Silicon Valley,” with Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt introducing several reforms to the country’s financial regulations to encourage more venture capital investment and listings of high-growth technology companies. .

Most of the commercially advanced work around the technology comes from the US, with major companies such as Microsoft-Supported OpenAI and other tech giants such as Google (acquired the British artificial intelligence company DeepMind in 2014) and Yuanespecially in generative artificial intelligence has invested heavily.

However, the UK is working hard to develop its own measures to become a leader in artificial intelligence. The government released a white paper in March detailing its plans for AI regulation, which seeks to take a principles-based approach to the technology rather than proposing new tailor-made regulations.

Sunak, who announced last week that the first global AI safety summit will be held in the UK later this year, hopes to make bold commitments about the UK’s place in the global regulatory discourse around the technology, as officials from the US, EU and beyond Both are looking to deal with artificial intelligence.

The chief executives of OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic visited the UK last month to discuss their approach to ensuring the safe development of artificial intelligence with the prime minister. AI leaders are trying to convince officials they’re creating advanced AI models with safety in mind as

Currently, there are no specific regulations for AI in any major developed country. The European Union is seeking to change that with the EU AI Bill, which lawmakers will vote on in parliament later this week. But those laws are unlikely to take effect for long in the future.

The UK has seen some of the most lauded tech companies resent the country as a place to do tech business, with Cambridge-based key chip designer Arm opting to list in New York earlier this year in favor of London, and Revolut’s CEO Officials said he would “never” list in London, citing an unfavorable tax system and bureaucratic oversight.

On Monday, Sunak dismissed naysayers about Britain’s technology future. In a conversation with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Sunak said the UK “is already a great place to scale tech businesses”.

“Over the past decade, this country has had more unicorns than anywhere else outside of the US and China. I think that’s a pretty good record and a good foundation for us to start with, but obviously we need to keep doing well , we need to keep pushing ourselves.”

“About half of the founders of all our fastest-growing innovative businesses are foreign-born, so that tells you that you need a visa system that attracts the best and brightest to the UK, and I think we’ve already There is.”

Hassabis, who was recently promoted to lead Google’s AI research efforts, said he had seen a change in the culture that fostered entrepreneurship in the UK over the years.

“When we started DeepMind in 2010, it was very different. I remember our first investors were in the US, and we had to go to the US to get our first investment, and it was kind of skeptical that you could build a huge startup outside of Silicon Valley. Deep tech companies anywhere.

“I think it’s much easier to start and grow a tech company that’s very difficult and very rewarding. So you know, it’s great to see what I think is a huge opportunity to come here.”

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