UK to become 'AI maker not taker', says Sir Keir Starmer

The UK will become an "AI maker not an AI taker", according the prime minister, as he announced millions of pounds of funding to train students in AI.

Sir Keir Starmer said the UK public needed to "lean in" and embrace artificial intelligence.

NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang, who shared the stage with the prime minister, predicted that in the next 10 years, "every industry in the UK will be a tech industry" because of AI.

He said the UK has one of the "richest AI communities anywhere in the world" and is the biggest country for AI investment other than the US and China.

However, it currently doesn't have the infrastructure needed to become a global AI superpower, he said.

"You can't do machine learning without a machine. The ability to build AI supercomputers here in the UK will naturally attract more AI startups and create a better ecosystem, said Mr Huang.

His comments come on the morning two UK tech firms, Alphawave and Ionics, agreed takeovers by US rivals.

When Labour entered office, it cancelled a planned supercomputer, saying it wasn't funded.

It has since announced it wants to increase UK computing power 20-fold by 2030 and build a brand-new supercomputer.

As he announced a series of new investments in training for workers and students, Sir Keir said that within the coming years the government should be able to "look every parent in the eye" and pledge that tech can create a "better future" for their children.

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"By the end of this Parliament we should be able to look every parent in the eye in every region in Britain and say 'look what technology can deliver for you'," he said.

During the session, he announced a new £187m "TechFirst" scheme to equip secondary school pupils with AI skills for future jobs.

He also announced a scheme backed by Google and Microsoft to train 7.5 million workers in AI skills by 2030.

Google, Microsoft, IBM, Nvidia, BT and Amazon have signed up to make "high-quality" training materials widely available to workers free of charge over the next five years, according to Number 10.

Sir Keir hosted a private reception at Chequers on Sunday with leading technology bosses and investors, including former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, Faculty AI co-founder Angie Ma, Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis and Scale boss Alex Wang.

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