Britain invests 100 million pounds in AI research and regulation

Britain invests 100 million pounds in AI research and regulation

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain on Tuesday said it would spend more than 100 million pounds ($125 million) to launch nine new research hubs in artificial intelligence (AI) and train regulators about the technology.

“AI is moving fast, but we have shown that humans can move just as fast,” technology minister Michelle Donelan said in a statement. “By taking an agile, sector-specific approach, we have begun to grip the risks immediately.”

Nearly 90 million pounds would go towards the hubs, which will focus on using AI in areas including healthcare, chemistry and mathematics, and a partnership with the United States on responsible AI, the government said.

Another 10 million pounds would help regulators address the risks and harness the opportunities of AI, it said, such as developing practical tools to monitor risks in sectors from telecoms and healthcare to finance and education.

Britain hosted an international summit in November on AI safety.

More than 25 countries who attended signed the “Bletchley Declaration”, which focuses on identifying risks of shared concern and developing cross-country policies to mitigate them.

($1 = 0.7987 pounds)

(Reporting by Farouq Suleiman, Editing by Paul Sandle)