UK 'invention agency' grants 50m of public money to US tech and venture capital firms

OpenAI's Sam Altman, left, is a backer of Rain Neuromophics, one of the companies that received funds from the UK's Aria, the brainchild of Dominic Cummings, right OpenAI's Sam Altman, left, is a backer of Rain Neuromophics, one of the companies that received funds from the UK's Aria, the brainchild of Dominic Cummings, right Exclusive: Brainchild of Dominic Cummings, Aria is aimed at funding'crazy' scientific projects to benefit the UK Britain's "invention agency" has pledged £50m of UK taxpayer money to US tech companies and venture capital projects. Dreamed up by Dominic Cummings to fund "crazy" ideas, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) is meant to " restore Britain's place as a scientific superpower ". But a joint investigation by the Guardian and Democracy for Sale, an investigative website, has established that more than an eighth of the agency's £400m in research and development funding over the past two years has gone to 14 US tech companies and venture capital groups, in some cases, with no clear return for the UK or Aria. One of these companies, Rain Neuromorphics, is also backed by the OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman, and was reported to be near collapse last year, shortly after winning Aria money. It did not respond to a request for comment; two of its founders appear to have left the company.