The newly elected UK Labour government has just pulled funding of £1.3 billion allocated to technology and artificial intelligence (AI) projects by the previous Conservative administration. It has thrown sand into the gears of the tech industry and may affect the development of the UK’s first next-generation supercomputer, an exascale supercomputer being built at the University of Edinburgh.
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This funding package, which included £800m for the exascale supercomputer and £500m for the AI Research Resource, was classed by the Labour government as unfunded commitments that did not feature in the previous administration’s spending plans. The reasoning of the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology for the withdrawal was embedded within the wider measures to assure economic stability and achieve national growth.
A sum approaching £300 million has already been paid out for the AI Research Resource, and people within the tech industry have voiced anger over the move to withdraw the majority of the remaining funds. Shadow Science Secretary Andrew Griffith attacked the decision, saying it foreshadowed further cuts under Labour. He added that it will do significant harm to the ambitions of the United Kingdom to increase its research spend, not least because the decision is of such pivotal importance to the cultivation of a modern economy.
He pointed out that likely underspending within his department’s budget had been highlighted to ministers before the election was called, suggesting that the funding could have been maintained. The question is what this may do to research funding at the universities.
It had planned to install the UK’s first exascale supercomputer, capable of one billion billion calculations per second – 50 times faster than any machine in the UK. The University of Edinburgh already hosts Archer2, the national supercomputer, and £31 million had already been invested in infrastructure to house the exascale system. It was to contribute to changing the pace of research in AI, drug discovery, climate change, astrophysics, and advanced engineering. The University of Edinburgh’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, has requested an urgent meeting with the science secretary to discuss the future of the project.
The government, however, insists that it will continue to support the building up of technology infrastructure that will fuel growth and opportunities throughout the UK, irrespective of these cuts. Only recently, Science Secretary Peter Kyle said that AI is right at the heart of the government’s package of measures driving economic growth and delivering better public services. He is bringing on board tech entrepreneur Matt Clifford to draw up an action plan aimed at exploiting new AI opportunities, infrastructure, talent, and access to data, leading to its diffusion in both public and private sectors.
These ambitions are, however, put under a shadow by the withdrawal of significant funding, which raises questions over the government’s ability in terms of supporting and sustaining major technological advancements here in the UK. The decision has thrown up a number of questions regarding the way forward for AI and technology development in the country, with many stakeholders calling for a review of the funding strategy to make sure that the UK stays ahead of others in technological innovation.
