UK artificial intelligence investment has reached record highs. Investment in AI technology grew almost six-fold from 2014 to 2018, with UK AI scaleups raising almost double that of France, Germany and the rest of Europe combined last year. As AI becomes more pervasive, 2019 is set to be another year of record funding growth for AI in the UK, building on four years of consecutive growth. In the first six months of this year, AI funding in the UK has already surpassed 2018's figures -- AI investment reached $1,021,642,595 in 2018 in the UK, but has already reached $1,063,012,777 in the first six months of 2019 (Source: Crunchbase). Based on these figures, the UK is currently third in the world for raising investment in AI, behind only China and the US and second in the world (behind the US) for the number of AI companies in operation during 2019 (Source: Crunchbase).

The UK is now third in the world for artificial intelligence (AI) investment, behind the US and China, after attracting more capital in six months than in all of 2018. AI investment in the UK reached £859.29m in that time, compared with £825.85m in the preceding 12 months, according to figures collected by business information resource Crunchbase. The figures show that the UK's AI sector is now in its fifth year of consecutive growth, with investment increasing almost six-fold between 2014 and 2018. The growth has predominately been fuelled by startups with 50 or fewer employees, which account for 89% of the UK's AI ecosystem. According to representatives from entrepreneurs network Tech Nation, the focus now needs to be on scaling the UK's existing AI business to capitalise on these investment trends.