Cringing before the tech giants is no way to make Britain an AI superpower John Naughton

But last Monday he broke the habit of a lifetime in a speech delivered at University College London. It was about AI, which he sees as "the defining opportunity of our generation". The UK, he declared "is the nation of Babbage, Lovelace and Turing", not to mention the country "that gave birth to the modern computer and the world wide web. So mark my words – Britain will be one of the great AI superpowers." Within days of taking office, the PM had invited Matt Clifford, a smart tech bro from central casting, to think about "how we seize the opportunities of AI".