The type of AI models powering generative tools such as ChatGPT require a tremendous amount of so-called compute capacity from massive data centres to both build and process the inquiries from millions of users around the world. Those data centers in turn need abundant electricity, water and other infrastructure. In an acknowledgment of the support required, Starmer announced on Monday an extra 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) of funding to “scale up our compute power by a factor of 20” and improve infrastructure for building out artificial intelligence in the UK.
The government also announced a partnership with Nvidia to help train more people in AI skills and expand research.Europe has struggled to compete with the US and China in producing groundbreaking generative AI companies and spurring as much data centre development as its rivals. Huang is touring the continent this week, where he’s described “umpteen AI factories being planned” in the region. He is also expected to speak at Paris’s VivaTech on Wednesday and will be visiting and meeting with leaders in the UK, Germany, France and Belgium.
“The thing that is quite extraordinary and is an incredible opportunity for the UK: AI is a technology, but is also an infrastructure because it affects so many industries simultaneously,” Huang said. “Because this technology is so broad and so transformative to every single industry, it will be considered infrastructure just as electricity was.”
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority also announced on Monday that it was setting up a so-called regulatory sandbox to allow financial firms to experiment with AI using Nvidia’s technology. These sandboxes let firms with new ideas at the intersection of finance and technology test their products and services before fully launching them.
Liquidity, a startup lender, will also set up a European headquarters in London and has committed to investing 1.5 billion pounds in companies in the next five years.
