As the global race for AI supremacy heats up, we contacted AI entrepreneur and expert Rotem Farkash for his views on the UK’s position in a highly competitive global sector.
In the latest round of economic gloom for the country, the Bank of England halved its annual economic growth forecast last week to 0.75%, stunting the Labour government’s latest attempts to instil optimism in the UK’s economic future.
The Bank’s latest revision is emblematic of economic storm clouds that have gathered in Labour’s first seven months in power, worsened by the October budget tax rises that were widely criticised in the business community.
But contrary to the popular malaise, AI entrepreneur Rotem Farkash, who has founded numerous tech start-ups, believes that the UK is well-placed to position itself in the global race for AI leadership.
‘The UK has a number of exceptional soft assets,’ Farkash explained ‘From a highly qualified young workforce to globally renowned research centres, the UK is an attractive location for any AI company looking to develop solutions at the cutting-edge of the industry’.
After 6 months in power, Farkash’s ambitions for the UK seem finally to have been taken up by the Labour government, as just last month ministers announced plans for AI to be ‘mainlined into the veins’ of the nation.
At the heart of Labour’s plan is an eye-catching proposal to open the UK’s National Health Service’s extensive archive of personal data to tech companies, positioning the country at the vanguard of research into AI’s application in healthcare and biotech.
But while commending the British government’s lateral thinking in terms of its data assets, Rotem Farkash cautions that Labour’s plans risk being handcuffed by the current government’s lack of strategic vision for the UK’s AI sector.
‘The UK is potentially a formidable competitor in the global AI race’, Farkash stated. ‘While it cannot compete with the scale of the US or China, the UK’s combination of talent and potentially deft regulation of the sector could allow it to carve out a niche between the world’s economic superpowers.
‘But entrepreneurs require the government to set in place a clear roadmap to realise these ambitions’, Farkash continued. ‘Without positive messaging on the UK’s very real AI potential, there’s a risk the nation begins to lag behind European competitors.’
And a glance just across the channel towards France – whom recently hosted the global Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris this month – illustrates there are competitors ready to seize the AI opportunity. While Labour has so far prioritised using AI to make savings in the public sector, President Macron sees an opportunity for France to play a leading role in an industry of the future.
British caution is reflected in tightened spending on AI investment and incentivisation. And despite the measures announced in the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan at the beginning of this year, investors will remember the proposed £1.3 billion investment in AI technologies that was reportedly scrapped in August as part of Labour’s ‘cost-cutting AI strategy’.
Having been through the difficult process of selecting a country to headquarter a new tech start-up several times in the past, Rotem Farkash is well-versed in the high risks associated with setting up in a new market.
‘Investors require confidence, and confidence in a nation’s economy ultimately stems from its government,’ Farkash explained. ‘When news that the government is cutting back AI spending leaks to investors, it can be difficult to win back that trust.’
France, in contrast, has so far been much more bullish in selling its AI sector to the world. Despite a yawning 6.1% deficit this year, President Macron announced 2.5 billion euros for AI development during a glitzy ceremony at the Elysée Palace in May of this year.
A quarter of the funds will come from the French state with the aim of increasing ‘industrial competitiveness and collective wellbeing’ by delivering the bright ideas and digital infrastructure to facilitate widespread AI adoption.
And Macron has taken a typically competitive, even nationalistic tone on the subject, telling his audience at the Palace France is undergoing a ‘strategic awakening’ in the field, and describing the race for AI dominance as ‘existential’.
This rhetoric is a long way from the more modest approach of Britain’s Labour government. And while France may remain sidetracked by ongoing political uncertainty, its communication of its AI ambitions remains remarkably consistent.
‘The UK can learn a lot from President Macron’s unashamed support for his country’s AI sector’, Rotem Farkash explained. ‘Entrepreneurs have certainly responded to the President’s positivity around the tech industry in France’.
‘But I do believe that the UK has a potentially formidable offering that it can bring to the world stage, Farkash continued. ‘With the requisite dose of optimism and self-belief, the UK can become AI’s dark horse’.
