The UK government is providing Oxford and University College London (UCL) £60m to host labs for developing the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI).
Supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the labs are set to explore changes to the fundamentals of AI that could lower costs and improve performance, helping to open up the technology to more organisations.
The funding is being made available through UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to support the labs over the next six years, alongside access to large-scale computing power worth tens of millions of pounds – essentially the processing power to run and train AI models.
Discussing the labs, Charlotte Deane, senior responsible owner for the UKRI AI programme and executive chair of EPSRC, said: “These labs will put that advantage to work, backing the bold, high-reward ideas that can shape the future of AI. We look forward to working with the labs to maximise the benefits for the UK.”
The Science of Fundamental AI Research (SoFair) Lab is being led by UCL, with partners Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh universities, developing next-generation open-source AI technologies for wider accessibility.
Its goal is to expand and diversify the underlying technology and systems that AI runs on, as an alternative to the current trend where AI relies heavily on a small number of popular architectures trained on vast data, requiring immense computing infrastructure.
“SoFair will bring together the broader sciences and fresh ideas to create a new generation of open-source models,” said UCL lead professor David Barber. “This will reduce dependency on the small number of model providers, boosting UK sovereignty and its position as a global player in AI.”
Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science is hosting the British Open-ended Learning and Discovery (Bold) Lab, which is developing open, human-centred, resource-efficient AI systems that can operate safely and effectively in the real world. The researchers’ goal is to help turn research into tools that can be used in workplaces, infrastructure and public services, supporting wider adoption across the economy.
Oxford University associate professor Jakob Foerster said: “The UK cannot win the global AI race simply by trying to outspend the largest technology companies on data and compute. Bold is about a different route: discovering fundamentally new ways to build AI that are more efficient, more open and better aligned with human needs.
“By focusing on new paradigms for learning, rather than only scaling existing methods, we aim to help secure the UK’s sovereign capability in AI and ensure that academic research can shape the future of the field.”
Commenting on the funding, AI minister Kanishka Narayan said: “These new labs will lead the world in the fundamental work that is set to make AI cheaper, more practical and easier to adopt so more businesses and public services across the UK can benefit.
“And by building this capability here at home, backed by our world-leading universities, we’re strengthening our own expertise, reducing reliance on others and securing Britain’s place at the forefront of this technology,” he said.
