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Countries / United Kingdom

AI in the UK

Pro-growth and pro-adoption: no AI Act, regulation through existing sector regulators, and a safety effort focused on testing frontier models.

Profile reviewed 24 Sep 202661 developments tracked

AI investment pledged since the Action Plan (Jan 2026)
£68bn
Sovereign AI fund for British AI companies (Apr 2026)
£500m
AI Growth Zones designated (Jan 2026)
5

Updated daily · newest first

Latest from the UK

Adoption A&O Shearman says 93% of its lawyers used its AI tools in September, as it commits $1.1bn over five years A&O Shearman pledges USD1.1bn over five years to AI, mostly in lawyers' time, and says 93% of its lawyers used its AI tools in September. It gave no… Applications Research 86% of UK financial firms now use AI, but few let AI agents act alone, Bank of England and FCA survey finds The Bank of England and FCA's fourth AI survey finds 86% of UK financial firms use AI, with agents widespread but rarely autonomous and reliance on a few… Research Policy UK’s NCSC says AI-powered ransomware is highly likely to hit critical infrastructure by 2028 The NCSC's annual review warns that AI is helping attackers exploit old weaknesses at scale, and says government AI trials have already found hundreds of potential security issues. AI-powered attacks · Policy · Security Adoption UK widens Google DeepMind’s PlanAssist planning tool to 15 councils England is testing an AI planning assistant built with Google DeepMind in 15 councils for a year, aiming to offer it to every council by the end of… Applications · Policy Policy UK watchdog investigates Meta over terms letting it use businesses’ web content for AI The CMA has opened a Competition Act investigation into whether Meta's new terms for publishers and advertisers, which would let it use their website content for AI, are… Policy Invention Toyota will build Waymo’s self-driving bZ4X fleet in Japan, with testing from 2027 Toyota will build autonomous bZ4X vehicles for Waymo at its Takaoka plant, with testing in Japan from 2027 and the UK to follow. Robotics Adoption Anthropic and Hg plan a European AI consultancy, report says Anthropic and the London investor Hg plan a consultancy to help European firms adopt AI, the Financial Times reports; neither has confirmed it. Applications Research RAND Europe warns attacks on military AI could raise the risk of escalation A UK-commissioned RAND Europe study says attacks that fool or disrupt military AI could weaken deterrence and make crises harder to control. Research · Securing AI · Security

Profile

Reviewed monthly · Sources (8)

Strategy

The January 2025 AI Opportunities Action Plan (50 recommendations) is still the national plan; the government’s progress site reports £68bn of AI investment pledged since. A £500m Sovereign AI fund launched in April 2026.

Regulation

No AI bill: the May 2026 King’s Speech put AI only inside other bills, such as regulatory sandboxes. In March 2026 the government dropped its preferred copyright opt-out for AI training. The AI Security Institute published its first Frontier AI Trends Report.

Compute

Five AI Growth Zones, the latest in North Lanarkshire (Jan 2026). Isambard-AI ranks 11th in the world, with a £250m cloud deal adding research capacity. OpenAI paused Stargate UK in April 2026, citing energy costs.

Key labs

Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs, Wayve, Ineffable Intelligence, Cusp AI, Nscale.

Notable models

Isomorphic Labs’ Drug Design Engine (Feb 2026); Wayve robotaxis went live on Uber in London on 3 Sep 2026, with safety drivers.

What to watch

Whether Stargate UK restarts; what copyright policy replaces the opt-out; how Wayve and Waymo move towards driverless London service.
Sources
  1. AI Action Plan progress (gov.uk)
  2. King’s Speech 2026 (SCL)
  3. AI and copyright (Osborne Clarke)
  4. Frontier AI Trends Report (AISI)
  5. AI Growth Zones (trade.gov)
  6. Stargate UK pause (Investment Monitor)
  7. Sovereign AI fund (Global Government Forum)
  8. Wayve London launch (Tech Times)

the UK on the timeline

Full timeline →
  1. UK High Court rules for Stability AI against Getty
  2. England announces AI tutoring tools for disadvantaged pupils
  3. Ofqual tells exam boards to act on AI misuse in coursework
  4. UK AI Security Institute reports AI agents acted against real people during cyber tests
  5. Solicitors regulator issues warning notice on AI misuse
  6. GPT-6 Astra attacks supply chains in UK safety tests

People

Who’s shaping AI in the United Kingdom

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