AI investment critical to UK's future on world stage

UK manufacturing firms will need to see their public and private investment in artificial intelligence increase, in order to remain competitive against rising economies focusing on the technology and to escape the cold shadow cast by the US and China. Although China and the US will likely be the key power players in AI-driven economies of the future, ascendant countries such as Singapore, Israel, Ireland and Finland pose significant competition for British firms, who are among other "traditional champions" of the technology like their Canadian, French and German counterparts. The data, which assessed the research performance, start-up funding and supercomputing prowess of 54 countries, is derived from the Global AI Index. It suggests a coming and radical power shift from economies that are "no longer defined by gross domestic product (GDP) or geography…[but] according to their capacity to take part in a global system shaped by artificial intelligence." The report looks at the impact of private investment in artificial intelligence, while also considering the critical role public, or state, finance can have on a country's global ranking.