LONDON, July 21. The UK government has inked a landmark partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, signaling a bold £1 billion push to transform Britain into an AI superpower.
Announced Monday, the deal is part of a wider effort to beef up the country’s AI infrastructure, think more data centres, more compute power, and more innovation happening on British soil. OpenAI is also eyeing a larger footprint in London, and could soon help the UK apply AI to big-ticket sectors like justice, defence, education, and even the NHS.
“AI will be fundamental in driving the change we need to see across the country, whether that is fixing the NHS, breaking down opportunity gaps, or fueling economic growth,” said Peter Kyle, the UK’s Secretary of State for Technology. “This can’t happen without companies like OpenAI.”
Related: OpenAI and Google Just Cracked Olympiad-Level Math; But With Different Approaches.
And it’s not just lip service. The government plans to pour £1 billion into expanding AI-focused computing infrastructure, aiming to increase public compute power by 20 times over the next five years. With tech titans like the US, China, and India pulling ahead in the global AI race, the UK is done playing catch-up.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, praised the UK for being the first to officially recognize AI’s transformative potential through Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “AI Opportunities Action Plan.” The initiative aims to harness AI for public good while boosting productivity by 1.5% annually, translating into a potential £47 billion economic surge over the next decade.
The timing is not accidental. As the Labour government tries to regain momentum amid sluggish growth and slipping poll numbers, AI could be its moonshot. And this partnership with OpenAI? It might just be the launchpad.
