The UK government has outlined plans to invest an additional £4.7 billion ($5.9 billion) into technology areas including artificial intelligence (AI), 5G networks, smart energy, and robotics by 2020 or 2021 – but its reluctance to reveal the crown jewels to the world (primarily the European Union) gives the impression of a strategy without backbone.
Initial directions for the scheme have been published in a 132-page green paper this week, titled Building our Industrial Strategy, which lays out ideas for achieving growth in areas deemed pivotal to the future of the country. The initiative says it will begin by seeking to strike development deals between businesses and academics, to support the commercialization of university research departments – an area of opportunity the UK government has been failing in.
AI and robotics are key focus areas for the UK government, which is striving to underpin the country as a leader in fields such as autonomous vehicles and drones, but the lack of any real technological detail or specifics on how it will apply AI are notably frustrating omissions from the paper.
The UK’s uncharacteristically lenient laws for autonomous vehicles on public roads presents an opportunity for it to get a head start here, and perhaps set an example for the rest of Europe.
Advertising and content recommendations are businesses that increasingly require the use of AI and machine learning, and are particular areas of interest for us here at Faultline Online Reporter. Time will tell if the UK’s strategy will stretch to applications such as handling analytics in the media landscape, beyond potentially risky ventures such as autonomous vehicles.
The paper highlights that the UK’s Industrial Challenge Fund is taking a leaf out of the book of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which has the experience of funneling R&D cash to grow existing tech industries as well as building new ones from the ground up. This suggests that technological breakthroughs in the military landscape, which increasingly encompasses cybersecurity, will be on the agenda.
The bold initiative is part of a wider strategy to improve the country’s economy by creating jobs in these emerging technology fields, to combat the economic doors that could slam shut as the UK gradually prises itself away from the European Union (EU) over the coming years. Unsurprisingly, there has been alarmist backlash that creating high paying jobs in AI will widen the rich-poor divide.
But in the wake of Brexit, will the rest of the EU feel obliged to follow suit by injecting cash into potentially lucrative areas like AI, or forge its own technological path?
The UK was sluggish off the mark in realizing the opportunities for AI applications, but from what we can see there doesn’t seem to be any European wide initiatives that are close to matching the UK’s $5.9 billion spending pledge, let alone that invested in the US.
A handful of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK are even willing to take this a step further, with some suggesting that a commission dedicated to AI should be formed – focusing on the ethical, legal and social implications of the technology.
Again, the US already has a similar project called the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society in the US, which was recently formed by tech mammoths Amazon, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Google’s DeepMind – although not a Government-run project.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May commented: “The modern industrial strategy will back Britain for the long term: creating the conditions where successful businesses can emerge and grow, and backing them to invest in the long-term future of our country. It will be underpinned by a new approach to government, not just stepping back, but stepping up to a new, active role that backs business and ensures more people in all corners of the country share in the benefits of its success.”
The Digital TV Group (DTG), a non-profit digital media technology center in the UK, waded in with praise, as Richard Lindsay-Davies, CEO of the DTG said: “We welcome the government’s Industrial Strategy initiative and look forward to working with Sir Peter Bazalgette who is focused on ‘the Creative Industries’. Peter’s unrivaled heritage in television gives him a unique understanding of the issues our industry faces.”
This week’s paper builds on the Autumn Statement announced in November, which promised to invest more than £1 billion ($1.25 billion) in digital communications by 2020 or 2021 – including £400 million ($500 million) for a new Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund for fiber to the premises (FTTP) infrastructure.
The cash will be allocated between rival operators to upgrade residences to ultrafast broadband with gigabit speeds – enabled by a combination of ramped-up FTTP roll-out and more affordable G.fast.
UK operators TalkTalk and Virgin claim that the cost of upgrading a single rural premise could be as high as £1,500 ($1,870), whereas urban premises are in the region of £500 ($624). We expect there will be some squabbling over how the £400 million is allocated and the government must take steps to ensure that FTTP operators agree not to ignore investments in rural homes and businesses upon receiving funding.