UK ranked second in global government AI league table

The UK has been knocked from the top spot of a global ranking of countries whose governments are ready to capitalise on artificial intelligence technologies in public services. The UK was narrowly beaten to the number one position by Singapore in this year's Government AI Readiness Index, which the ranking's authors described as a "timely reminder of the ongoing inequality of access to AI". This is the second time the ranking has been produced, with the UK having topped the leaderboard in the first iteration in 2017. Technology consultancy Oxford Insights and the Canadian government-sponsored International Development Research Centre said the 2019 Government AI Readiness Index should prompt governments to "act to ensure that global inequalities are not further entrenched or exacerbated by AI". Unsurprisingly, the upper echelons of the ranking were dominated by higher-income countries with strong economies.