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While the United States and China dominate the global AI race, the UK sits in a distant but still significant third place, boasting the most developed AI ecosystem in Europe. The question is: how can middle powers such as the UK assert their technological sovereignty, ensuring that the AI systems we rely on reflect our values and laws while also delivering a fair share of the economic rewards?
Britain has long been at the forefront of artificial intelligence. From Alan Turing’s pioneering work, which laid the foundations of the field, to Sir Demis Hassabis’s Nobel Prize-winning contributions, the UK has consistently helped shape the direction of computing and AI. Yet without the vast computing infrastructure and energy resources now required to train and deploy cutting-edge models, there is a growing risk that Britain could lose its influence over how this transformative technology develops.
We hear from Professor David Barber about his new SOFAIR AI lab, which aims to keep the UK at the forefront of AI innovation. Broderick McDonald explores the geopolitical consequences of failing to maintain sufficient AI capacity on British soil, while Roa Powell of the Institute for Public Policy Research outlines the economic opportunities that could be lost if the UK is unable to compete with the world’s AI superpowers.
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong
Producer: Peter McManus
The Artificial Human is a BBC Audio Scotland production
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