Authors
Jessica Montgomery
Director ai@cam
Neil Lawrence
Chair ai@cam
Diane Coyle
Bennett Professor of Public Policy
Gina Neff
Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy
Abstract
This policy brief addresses whether the UK’s current approach to AI sovereignty is able to deliver a future where the nation can influence the AI systems shaping its economy, security, and democracy. The report highlights that while policy levers exist across different areas, the gaps between them create vulnerabilities and strategic dependencies. To build domestic AI capabilities that serve UK interests, a new, integrated approach is required, connecting research, industrial strategy, and procurement to create enduring capacity rather than temporary access to technology.
Key Findings
- The UK’s investment strategy risks leading to managed dependence
- rather than lasting AI sovereignty. Despite substantial supply-side investments in infrastructure and research, these actions sit alongside deepening dependencies on foreign AI systems.
- A lack of policy integration is the core challenge: innovation policy is disconnected from institutional adoption commitments, and industrial strategy insights are not linked to procurement policies.
- Current partnerships with major technology companies are structured as access agreements not capacity-building for domestic capabilities.
- The UK’s £2 billion AI investment is modest compared to the multi-billion-dollar commitments of other nations, requiring a highly focused strategic approach.
Recommendations
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- Make government an anchor customer for UK AI
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Public sector AI procurement, particularly by the NHS and government digital services, should include an assessment of whether spending builds UK capabilities or reinforces dependencies.
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- Use competition policy to keep markets contestable
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Prevent anti-competitive practices that lock customers into proprietary systems, creating space for UK alternatives.
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- Partner to build capacity, not only access near-term capabilities
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Restructure partnerships around knowledge transfer requirements and joint development programmes.
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- Support open-source AI development
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Connect open-source model development with public compute resources and institutional adoption to position the UK as a hub for open-source AI.
Impact and Next Steps
The UK possesses distinctive assets—research excellence, regulatory credibility, and sectoral expertise (like the NHS and finance sector)—that can be deployed to achieve sovereignty outcomes. A vision for UK AI should be grounded in delivering public value, ensuring AI systems improve public services, create economic benefits, protect critical infrastructure, and remain subject to democratic accountability.
Achieving this vision depends on establishing a focal point for strategic coordination that connects supply-side investments, defensive priorities, and demand-side decisions. Without this integration, substantial investments will fail to reduce strategic dependencies, and world-class research will lack the domestic adoption pathways necessary to build lasting capacity.