The UK's newly launched national strategy will help keep the UK competitive as AI transforms businesses and jobs The power of AI to drive growth and innovation is clear, evidenced by the McKinsey Global Survey on AI that suggests that organisations are using AI as a tool for generating value, increasingly, in the form of revenues. But the black box approach taken by most AI companies comes with serious risks to scale bias like never before, intentional or not. As part of any AI strategy, diverse teams must be part of the process from the ground up to recognise biases in the data on which models are trained and to scenario plan how minorities may be impacted. Ensuring AI is explainable with a greater degree of transparency in training data, data gaps, and algorithmic logic can further reduce bias at scale. These are the key ways to mitigate this very real risk.

On 22 September 2021, the UK Government published its 10-year strategy on artificial intelligence ("AI"; the "UK AI Strategy"). The UK AI Strategy has three main pillars: (1) investing and planning for the long-term requirements of the UK's AI ecosystem; (2) supporting the transition to an AI-enabled economy across all sectors and regions of the UK; and (3) ensuring that the UK gets the national and international governance of AI technologies "right". The approach to AI regulation as set out in the UK AI Strategy is largely pro-innovation, in line with the UK Government's Plan for Digital Regulation published in July 2021. This pillar focuses on the need to invest in the skills and resources that lead to AI innovation with the aim of increasing the type, frequency and scale of AI discoveries in the UK. The Pillar has twelve action points, with an emphasis on the importance of access to and availability of data.

According to a 2017 report from PwC, 2018 marks the year artificial intelligence (AI) can finally be applied widely. The report warned that 30 per cent of the country's jobs might be under threat from the technology, but predicted the UK could see productivity boosted by up to 30 per cent and savings generated of up to 25 per cent. Steering the right path forward is going to be hugely complicated, although Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the minister in charge of the UK government's AI strategy, is resolutely upbeat. "We are at the cusp of one of the most exciting times in our lives and, if we get our strategy for AI right, then the UK will be able to reap the rewards for our economy for decades to come," he argues. "To secure the huge potential of AI, we need to be strategic and focused, recognising the increasing convergence of technologies and focusing on the areas where we can compete globally."