Policy Lab

This policy brief, Navigating AI Sovereignty: Strategic Choices for the UK, examines the nation's capacity to develop, control, and govern AI technologies according to its own priorities. It considers the UK Government's significant supply-side investments against deepening dependencies on foreign AI systems. The report concludes that without integration between supply-side investments and demand-side mechanisms, the UK risks managed dependence, lacking the autonomy to make strategic choices about how AI develops and is used domestically.

AI is at risk of following a well-worn path that results in technological innovations that fail to address real-world challenges. The AI Opportunities Action Plan has an opportunity to address the gap between technology and widespread public benefit, not only in what policy actions it recommends, but in how those recommendations are taken forward. This report introduces the broad range of levers that government could consider as part of its policy agenda for AI.

Access to data for research: lessons for the National Data Library from the front lines of AI innovation.

In September 2024, ai@cam convened public dialogue workshops in Liverpool and Cambridge to better understand public perspectives on the role of AI in delivering the Missions for Government, focusing on crime and policing, education, energy and net zero, and health.

Collaborations with the Accelerate Programme for Scientific Discovery, Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science and the Public, and Connected by Data are bridging between AI research, public dialogue, and policy development.

The rapid rollout of generative AI models, and public attention to Open AI’s ChatGPT, has raised concerns about AI’s impact on the economy and society. Which path should the UK take to build national capability for generative AI?