Tech sector and government back £1 billion AI deal

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced the multi-million-pound deal today, which aims to put the UK at the forefront of AI. The deal includes almost £300m of private sector investment and newly allocated government funding for AI research. The announcement follows on from the government's recent Industrial Strategy, in which AI was highlighted as one of the country's four'grand challenges'. The EC strategy paper, released today, focuses heavily on skills, including funding for the training of 8,000 computer science teachers, 1,000 government funded AI PhDs by 2025. Furthermore, the government has committed to developing a global Turing Fellowship programme to attract and retain AI research talent to the UK.