With Labour in power, it's back to the future for the UK's startup ecosystem; Amazon lures Adept cofounders; inside Scale AI's recent growth

AI is rewriting meme history; there's a deluge of AI art; how Thomson Reuters employees embraced AI; China leads the world in AI patents

As a new Labour government takes office following a major landslide victory in the UK general election, Keir Starmer’s cabinet faces an interesting opportunity: how to nurture and grow the country's AI startup ecosystem. With China’s AI ambitions hindered by chip shortages and the US, Germany and France distracted by political turmoil, the UK has a once-in-a-generation chance to become the world’s leading AI hub. Squander it, and the UK will follow most of Europe down the path of technological irrelevance.

For context, the last time Labour was in power over 15 years ago, the UK had no tech unicorns and DeepMind didn’t even exist. This time, the picture is vastly different: the UK's AI sector has flourished in recent years, generating a strong ecosystem of British unicorns such as Cera, Stability AI, Wayve and Synthesia that are on par with—if not better than—their North American or Chinese peers.

This ecosystem has attracted a steady stream of entrepreneurs and investment to the UK, leading to a proliferation of startups across the country, strong collaboration between industry and academia, and the creation of local AI labs from companies such as Salesforce, Cohere, Scale AI, OpenAI, Meta or Microsoft. (I know from reliable sources that more will open later this year.)

However, as the AI sector matures, the new government will be under pressure to walk a tightrope between fostering innovation and regulating emerging markets. The UK could for example follow the EU's lead in attempting to regulate research and development directly. That would be a catastrophic mistake. Instead, the UK should focus its regulatory efforts on measures that prevent real-world, negative outcomes from AI applications. The recent amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill is a great example of how practical AI regulation can deliver safer products and technologies for people without interfering with the pace of innovation. By modifying an existing law, the amendment made it illegal for anyone to create and distribute sexually explicit deepfake images without consent, rather than ban synthetic media as a core technology.

Regulation is not the only tool in the toolbox. Industrial policy can be a powerful lever since the UK has a centralized system for many of its public services or institutions. The government could forge public-private partnerships to give AI startups access to valuable datasets for training their models. Such partnerships could level the playing field for smaller firms that lack the resources to engage in data licensing deals such as the ones recently announced by OpenAI.

If the government can create a framework or marketplace for responsible data sharing, it could give UK startups a significant competitive edge. For example, startups could work with the NHS, the Met Office, the BBC or Network Rail on cost-effective data access pilots that would then evolve into permanent partnerships, creating a source of revenue for these services at a time of reduced public spending.

The new administration will also be under pressure to address the talent crunch facing the AI sector. While UK universities produce world-class AI researchers, many are lured away by higher salaries and better-funded research opportunities abroad, particularly in the US or the Middle East. To counter this brain drain and stimulate investment, the UK government could offer increased public funding for AI research and development, as well as incentives for more companies to establish AI labs in the UK, such as an AI startup visa program or relaxed planning permissions for the construction of data centers.

With the stakes this high, the pressure is on for swift and decisive action to support the country's AI ambitions. That’s why I’ve signed the open letter from the Startup Coalition which sets our clear recommendations to break down the barriers that prevent our the UK’s best companies and entrepreneurs from thriving.

And now, here are this week’s news:

❤️Computer loves

Our top news picks for the week - your essential reading from the world of AI

• Reuters: Amazon lures cofounders from startup Adept to bolster AI efforts

• WSJ: Amazon, Built by Retail, Invests in Its AI Future

• Wired: AI Is Rewriting Meme History

• The Economist: What happened to the artificial-intelligence revolution?

• Washington Post: The deluge of bonkers AI art is literally surreal

• WSJ: Can $1 Billion Turn Startup Scale AI Into an AI Data Juggernaut?

• The Information: Fame, Feud and Fortune: Inside Billionaire Alexandr Wang’s Relentless Rise in Silicon Valley

• VentureBeat: From AGI to ROI: The 6 AI debates shaping enterprise strategy in 2024 

• Wired: The New ‘Ethical’ AI Music Generator Can’t Write a Halfway Decent Song

• Fortune: How Thomson Reuters’ chief people officer sold employees on AI

• AP: China is the runaway leader in generative AI patent applications followed by the US, the UN says

⚙️Computer does

AI in the wild: how artificial intelligence is used across industry, from the internet, social media, and retail to transportation, healthcare, banking, and more

• The Telegraph: AI speed cameras which can ‘spy inside’ cars to be rolled out in the UK

• Reuters: Chinese robot 'guide dog' aims to improve independence for visually impaired

• Bloomberg: Turkey Turns to AI to Crack Down on Rampant Tax Evasion

• Axios: AI is supercharging disease diagnosis

• Bloomberg: AI-Enhanced Garbage Bins Aim to Solve Food Service’s Waste Problem

🧑‍🎓Computer learns

Interesting trends and developments from various AI fields, companies and people

• Bloomberg: Baidu Upgrades Ernie AI Model, Cuts Pricing Further

• The Guardian: ‘The disruption is already happening!’ Is AI about to ruin your favourite TV show?

• The Verge: WhatsApp is developing a personalized AI avatar generator

• CNBC: Microsoft’s Surface Pro is fine, but it isn’t the AI device to change personal computing

• New York Times: Ray Kurzweil Still Says He Will Merge With A.I.

• FT: Generative AI turns spotlight on contract management

• VentureBeat: ElevenLabs launches free AI voice isolator to take on Adobe

• Reuters: Huawei exec rejects idea that advanced chip shortage will hamper China's AI ambitions

• VentureBeat: Meta drops AI bombshell: Multi-token prediction models now open for research

• FT: Nvidia to make $12bn from AI chips in China this year despite US controls

• BBC: Would having an AI boss be better than your current human one?

• VentureBeat: Salesforce proves less is more: xLAM-1B 'Tiny Giant' beats bigger AI models

• Bloomberg: Apple Poised to Get OpenAI Board Observer Role as Part of AI Pact

• Bloomberg: Billionaire Niel’s Voice AI Takes on ChatGPT With French Accent

• The Verge: Perplexity’s ‘Pro Search’ AI upgrade makes it better at math and research

• TechCrunch: Cloudflare launches a tool to combat AI bots

• Axios: New AI hype alert: Cost-free knowledge

• SCMP: China kicks off largest AI conference in Shanghai amid tech rivalry with US

• Fast Company: As AI learns from Stack Overflow, Reddit, and more platforms, companies are adapting while users protest

• MIT Technology Review: A way to let robots learn by listening will make them more useful

• Fortune: Meet the HR executive who created an AI chatbot to give Gen Z career advice

• TechCrunch: Meta plans to bring generative AI to metaverse games

• Sifted: DeepL founder Jarek Kutyłowski on how to have an edge in AI

• Reuters: AI is changing banking, UBS executive says

• New York Times: A.I. ‘Friend’ for Public School Students Falls Flat

• TechCrunch: Anthropic looks to fund a new, more comprehensive generation of AI benchmarks

• WSJ: That Essay Got a B+. An AI Bot Graded It.

• VentureBeat: Deepfakes will cost $40 billion by 2027 as adversarial AI gains momentum

• VentureBeat: ElevenLabs adds AI voice of celebs to new digital narrator — but is it safe?

• MIT Technology Review: AI companies are finally being forced to cough up for training data

• The Atlantic: We Need to Control AI Agents Now

• Fortune: Ken Griffin is hitting pause on the AI hype, saying he’s unconvinced the tech will start replacing jobs in the next 3 years

• TechCrunch: YouTube now lets you request removal of AI-generated content that simulates your face or voice

• The Verge: Instagram’s ‘Made with AI’ label swapped out for ‘AI info’ after photographers’ complaints

• Business Insider: The big winners of the AI boom are the most boring companies imaginable

• Axios: Mary Meeker wants AI and higher education to be partners

• WSJ: New AI Technology Spurs Excitement and Concerns Among Private-Credit Managers

• VentureBeat: Amazon upgrades AI assistant Q to make call centers way more efficient

• TechCrunch: ServiceNow’s generative AI solutions are taking advantage of the data on its own platform

• Semafor: TikTok applies for ‘Genie’ trademark in US for AI chatbot

• Axios: Google inks partnerships to ground its AI models in facts

• Reuters: Trading app Robinhood agrees deal with Pluto Capital to tap into AI

• The Atlantic: Hot AI Jesus Is Huge on Facebook

• FT: Financial services shun AI over job and regulatory fears

• Fortune: Tech companies are turning to nuclear plants as AI increases demand for power

• Semafor: Communicate with animals, win millions: Inside the wild new world of AI prizes

• Reuters: Baidu launches upgraded AI model, says Ernie Bot hits 300 mln users

• Fortune: Hollywood tycoon Ari Emanuel blasts OpenAI’s Sam Altman after Elon Musk scared him about the future: ‘You’re the dog’ to an AI master

• The Guardian: AI drive brings Microsoft’s ‘green moonshot’ down to earth in west London

• Business Insider: What happens to AI progress if China invades Taiwan? A chat with 'Chip War' expert Chris Miller.

• Business Insider: Instagram is aggressively pitching creators on its new AI tools