Britain boosts computing power in $1.3 billion AI drive

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain set out its plan to invest 1 billion pounds ($1.34 billion) in computing infrastructure to drive the development of artificial intelligence, which will increase its public compute capacity 20 fold over the next five years.

The race to develop AI is intensifying, with the United States, China and India emerging as front runners, putting pressure on Europe to make up lost ground.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the funding at London Tech Week last month, where he shared the stage with Nvidia's chief executive Jensen Huang.

The tech leader said Britain needed to boost its computing infrastructure to deliver the full potential of its leading artificial intelligence research base.

The government said on Thursday it would bring together the country's most powerful supercomputers – Isambard-AI based in Bristol and Dawn in Cambridge - in an AI Research Resource (AIRR) system, delivered with partners including Nvidia, HPE, Dell Technologies and Intel.

Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, launched the Isambard supercomputer on  Thursday. 

"Britain has top of the class talent in AI and our plan will put a rocket under our brilliant researchers, scientists, and engineers – giving them the tools they need to make Britain the best place to do their work," he said.

University College London researchers are already using  the supercomputer  to line up pioneering AI tools which could revolutionise cancer screening in the National Health Service, the government said.

Using prostate cancer as its initial test case, they are developing one of the first scalable AI models dedicated to medical imaging - using AI to analyse MRI scans and identify patients in need of treatment sooner, it said.

Working alongside the AI Research Resource, Britain said it was also setting up a network of National Supercomputing Centres, with the first based in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, Germany wants AI to drive 10% of its economic output by 2030 and make AI an important tool in central fields of research, according to a document seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

($1 = 0.7460 pounds)

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)