In a bid to become one of the leading AI markets in the world, the UK government has been focusing on AI assurance. In AI fields, assurance is the practice of building viable, trustworthy systems that can enable successful AI economies in the future. According to the government’s predictions, this British market could grow “six-fold over the next decade.”
The UK’s Digital Economy
The British government’s focus on AI should be no surprise. In recent years, Britain has claimed the top spot as the fastest-growing tech economy in Europe. Thanks to initiatives like Project Gigabit, a lot of British society can access fast, high-quality internet when using the many digital services we use every day. Services vary from administrative software to e-commerce stories, or iGaming, one of Britain’s oldest online entertainment markets. All of them benefit from Britain’s high-quality internet, whether it’s seamless video conferencing or non-existent buffering times when playing online slots. Casino sites also host their own live-streamed casino games that rely on Britain’s network of high-quality, widely accessible internet connections. British citizens are more plugged in than most of the nation’s economic competitors, which is why every technological development has direct benefits for the average person
With that context, it’s easy to see why one of the most recent tech trends – AI – will be a part of Britain’s future.
According to a study commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS), consultancy firm Strand Partners found that technologies like cloud computing and AI could add £520 billion to the UK economy by 2030. This is in line with the British government’s own goals to become a “science and technology superpower” by the end of this decade.
Britain’s AI Assurance Industry
A similar analysis by the UK government predicts that AI assurance – just a part of the wider AI economy – will grow six-fold and unlock over £6.5 billion in value added. In their full press release, they add that AI adoption is crucial for government plans to reform public services and the economy at large. This means that an AI-powered Britain will not just generate value through its tech economy but also cut down on inefficiencies in pre-existing systems the country relies on.
To facilitate this, the government announced an AI assurance platform that will inform public and private services with AI best practices. It will pool together resources and practical advice from industry leaders, so other tech ventures can see how the pros manage their AI and produce the expected results. They also announced a self-assessment tool, so smaller companies can check in and get tailored advice on how to organise their own AI systems.
Future guidance will also work closely with the UK’s AI Safety Institute (AISI), which made headlines in 2023 for hosting the first-ever summit that addressed AI on the world stage. Hosted out of the manor at Bletchley Park, this summit united world leaders and royalty with AI pioneers like OpenAI’s Sam Altman, xAI’s Elon Musk, and Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. The summit, now an annual occurrence, was hosted in Seoul in 2024 and will continue to guide AI development into the future.
By most accounts, the future of the UK’s AI economy seems bright. Most forecasts, which focus on AI as it exists today, don’t even take into account the continued development and advancement of AI available to us. As AI gets smarter, the potential benefits of adopting it will only get more rewarding. With that in mind, current estimates of billions in economic growth may be understated.
