The UK government will quickly “follow” the €109bn investment announcement from France’s President Emmanuel Macron, AI Minister Feryal Clark has said, in signs Downing Street is keen not to lose ground to Paris in the global AI race. 

Speaking at the opening of the London AI Hub – an AI-focused co-working space from Tech Nation, Merantix and Onfido and Quench.ai founder Husayn Kassai – Clark referenced Macron’s investment announcement saying “we’ll be following that very quickly”. 

Though no specific announcements were made, Clark spoke on the importance of delivering the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the tech department’s flagship strategy for advancing Britain’s standing in artificial intelligence. 

The plan includes the expediting of data centre planning approval, greater use of the state’s existing datasets and a push for adoption of AI technologies in the public and private sectors. 

According to Clark, it’s not just the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) that has been tasked with delivering the plan. 

“The AI Opportunities Action Plan is the top priority for the Prime Minister,” Clark said. 

“The reason I am really confident about the deliverability of our AI Opportunities Action Plan, is because it’s led by the prime minister and every department has had the prime minister, asking them to make sure that they are playing their part.” 

Macron’s announcement came during the Paris AI Action Summit, the third international conference of global leaders discussing the technology following Bletchley Park’s AI Safety Summit and the AI Seoul Summit in South Korea. 

Reports of the Paris summit were dominated by the ultimate decision of the UK and the US not to sign the joint declaration unveiled at the event. 

“France are one of our closest partners, and we are collaborating with them,” Clark said. 

“But, as these things happen, we worked till the eleventh hour trying to get some changes that we wanted…sadly we couldn’t agree on the fine language and the changes we wanted.” 

Clark did not explain what particular changes could not be agreed on during negotiations. 

The London AI Hub, announced in January, launched on Wednesday. Inspired by the success of the Canary Wharf fintech incubator Level39, once home to Revolut among others, the hub aims to foster a collaborative community of AI startups in the UK capital. 

Already have an account? Log in