Sunak to spend £100m of taxpayer cash on AI chips in global race for computing power

Nvidia chips support AI models like ChatGPT. AI superpower, but the UK lags far behind the US and Europe in the computing resources needed to train, test and operate complex models.

A government review published this year criticized the lack of a «dedicated AI computing resource.» Less than 1,000 high-performance Nvidia chips are available to researchers.

At least 3,000 high-performance GPUs are recommended to be made available as soon as possible.

Mr Hunt has set a £900 million allocation for computing resources in March, although much of this is expected to be spent on a traditional «exascale» supercomputer.

A little more is believed to have been allocated to AI resources £50m, but bill expected to rise to £70-100m amid global race for AI processors.

Officers likely to push for disclosure of additional funding in Fall Statement, which could take place during the November AI Security Summit.

Last week, The Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia bought at least 3,000 Nvidia H100 processors, the company's $40,000 high-tech component for AI training.

Tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google also seeking to secure tens of thousands of sought-after chips, while Joe Biden blocked Nvidia from selling them in China as a matter of national security.

That was not the case. Find out what types of chips the UK is in talks to buy.

Artificial intelligence

GPUs will be used to build an artificial intelligence research resource that the government hopes will be operational by next summer.

Funding. for the project are separated from a £100m task force that will conduct a security study on artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT and Google Bard.

Officials are also weighing the merits of a “sovereign chatbot” — a state-funded language model similar to ChatGPT — and looking for ways to speed up the deployment of AI in public services such as the National Health Service.

The government is in talks with several companies in microchip manufacturing, although Nvidia, whose chips are widely used for AI training, is seen as the clear leader.

Mr Sunak is pushing for the UK to become the hub for setting global standards for secure AI development. He spearheaded plans for an AI Security Summit, expected to take place at Bletchley Park's World War II codebreaking center.

The event is hoped to lead to international agreements between governments and leading AI companies on technology development.

A government spokesman said: «We are committed to maintaining a thriving UK computing environment that supports our position as a global leader in science, innovation and technology.»

Nvidia did not comment.