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UK Government Plans to Bring AI to All Industries, but Aging IT Systems and Security Risks Are the Biggest Hurdles
According to foreign media TechRadar reported on March 28, the British public finance watchdog released a report that pointed out that the promotion of artificial intelligence faces multiple obstacles, including outdated traditional IT systems, poor data quality and limited data sharing. The report is part of the U.K. government's "comprehensive AI rollout" program, which hopes to introduce AI technology into various industries by attracting 14 billion pounds (note: the current exchange rate is about 131.641 billion yuan) of private investment. The Public Accounts Committee estimates that the UK central government has around 28% of IT...- 759
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BBC News to launch AI unit with focus on under-25s, more personalized content
March 7 news, according to the British "Guardian" local time 6 reports, BBC News will set up a new department, using artificial intelligence to provide more personalized content for the public. BBC News said that in the face of the huge changes in the way the news is consumed, BBC has been working hard to attract viewers. According to an internal memo obtained by The Guardian, BBC News chief executive Deborah Turners announced an organizational restructuring of BBC News, including the creation of a new division called BBC News Growth, Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. The division will focus on the under 25s...- 1.7k
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Study: More than 90% of undergraduates at UK universities use AI to complete assignments
Feb. 26 - A survey of 1,000 students has revealed an "explosion" in the use of generative artificial intelligence over the past 12 months, The Guardian reported today. Nearly 90% (88%) of students in the 2025 survey said they would use a tool like ChatGPT in an assessment, up from 53% last year. According to the report, published by the UK's Higher Education Policy Institute and Kortext, a digital e-textbook company, the proportion of students who would use any AI tool has risen from 2024 to 2025, with the number of students who would use any AI tool increasing from 1,000 to 1,000, according to the report. ...- 1.8k
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UK launches world's largest breast cancer AI diagnostic trial with 700,000 people, promising to free hundreds of doctors
Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Nearly 700,000 women across the country will take part in one of the world's largest trials to test how AI tools can be used to detect breast cancer cases earlier, according to a Feb. 4 press release on the U.K. government's website. The announcement from the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care said that 30 test sites across the country will be augmented with the latest digital AI technology as the U.K. government increases its use of the new technology across the board, in preparation for inviting women who are already booked for routine screenings on the NHS (note: the U.K.'s National Health Service) to take part. The technology will help radiologists, screening patients identify breast... -
UK is making new laws: cracking down on AI-generated child sexual abuse content
The UK government is working on four new laws designed to combat the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM). According to a statement from the UK Home Office, the laws will make it clear that it is an offense to create, possess or distribute AI tools used to generate CSAM. The move will make the UK the first country in the world to legislate against such behavior. Under the new law, offenders could face up to five years in prison. It will also be an offense to possess "AI pedophile manuals" that incite others to use AI to sexually abuse children, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison. Operational Hosting CS...- 1.9k
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UK Government Plans to Procure 100,000 GPUs to Boost Public Sector AI Arithmetic by 20x
January 13, 2011 - British Prime Minister David Starmer has promised that the UK government will purchase up to 100,000 GPUs by 2030, which means a 20-fold increase in the UK's sovereign AI arithmetic, mainly for AI applications in academia and public services. According to 1AI, the UK already has two advanced supercomputers, Isambard-AI at the University of Bristol and Dawn at the University of Cambridge.Isambard-AI is equipped with around 5,000 GPUs, specialized chips that are at the core of the AI software built...- 1.7k
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UK explores plans to use nuclear energy for AI data centers by creating dedicated "AI growth zones" for the purpose.
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. plans to set up special zones to build data centers and explore using nuclear energy to power them in a bid to boost technology development and the artificial intelligence ecosystem, Bloomberg reported today. The first of these "AI growth zones," which will provide easier access to electricity and planning approvals for data centers, will be set up in Culham, home to the U.K.'s Atomic Energy Authority. The UK government will also set up an energy committee made up of public and private sector officials to look at how data centers can be powered by small modular nuclear reactors, which rely on nuclear...- 1.7k
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UK cracks down: criminal penalties for creating and sharing indecent deepfakes content
In a blog post published yesterday (January 7), Reuters reported that the UK government is cracking down and making it a criminal offense to create and share indecent "deepfakes" images. The move will fill a gap in existing legislation and better protect victims. Note: Deepfakes use artificial intelligence to create realistic videos, images or audio that can be altered to look like anyone's likeness. Data from the UK's Revenge Porn Helpline shows that image abuse based on deepfakes has increased by more than 400% since 2017. ...- 1.7k
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UK to trial world's first AI tool to assess diabetes risk: identifying potential patients 10 years earlier
According to a local time report in the UK's Guardian newspaper on the 24th, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) will launch the world's first artificial intelligence trial using a "transformative" tool to identify patients at risk of developing type 2 diabetes more than a decade in advance. According to 1AI, more than 500 million people worldwide already have type 2 diabetes, and new ways to identify those at risk before they develop the disease have become a major global public health goal. It is predicted that by 2050, approximately 1 billion people worldwide will be affected by the disease. Type 2 diabetes is responsible for blindness, kidney failure, heart...- 3.2k
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UK Tests AI Cameras to Catch Drunk Drivers: Can Judge by Driving Behavior and Road Use
According to a BBC report on the 14th, British traffic authorities are testing a new camera in Devon and Cornwall that uses artificial intelligence technology to identify motorists who may be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The device, called Heads-Up, can monitor road use and suspicious driving behavior to determine whether a driver is suspected of drink or drug driving. Upon notification, police will set up a forward location, stop the vehicle and conduct a field test for alcohol or drugs. This equipment can be deployed at any time to any road within the two counties, and drivers are usually not stopped by police until...- 2.5k
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UK to legislate against AI risks next year, mainly for "cutting-edge models" like ChatGPT
The U.K. plans to pass legislation next year to strengthen protection against the potential risks of AI, according to the FT. The country's science and technology minister, Peter Kyle, said the government will also invest in infrastructure to support the development of the AI industry. Speaking at the FT's Future of AI Summit on Wednesday local time, Kyle noted that the UK's current AI voluntary testing protocols "work well and are a good framework," but that an upcoming AI bill would turn such agreements with major developers into legal obligations. The bill will be introduced in the current parliament and will enable the UK's AI Safety Institute (AI ...- 3.2k
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Microsoft launches generative AI gas pedal program in the UK, joins forces with NVIDIA, GitHub to help startups grow
On November 4, Microsoft announced the launch of its Generative AI Accelerator program, which aims to nurture the UK's most prominent AI startups and help them succeed in the future. In partnership with NVIDIA and Microsoft's development platform GitHub, the program provides resources and opportunities for companies looking to build, scale and expand generative AI products and services. It runs from January to early March 2025, and is officially said to be tailored for UK AI startups that have already received seed funding and are looking to grow further. According to reports, Microsoft launched the program... -
AI doctors are coming: British hospitals will use artificial intelligence to predict risk of fatal heart disease next year
Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The NHS is about to trial a "superhuman" artificial intelligence tool called Aire that can predict a patient's risk of illness and premature death, according to TheGuardian. Aire The new technology, known as AI-ECG risk estimation, or Aire for short, is trained to read the results of electrocardiogram (ECG) tests, detect potential structural problems in the heart that doctors can't see and flag up areas that may need further monitoring,...- 7.8k
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AI Changes Recruitment: UK University Graduates Face Tough Job Competition, Write Cover Letters with AI
UK graduates are facing unprecedented competition for jobs as they enter a labor market that is slowing down, while the number of applications per position has increased dramatically due to the use of AI, the Financial Times reported on Local 17. According to a report from the UK's Institute of Student Employers (ISE), employers received an average of 140 applications per position on graduate training programs in 2024, an increase of 59% from 2023.This is the highest value recorded in the organization's annual survey in over 30 years. Stephen Isherwood, co-chief executive of ISE, said...- 5.2k
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AI Hawk-Eye Linesman System to Replace Human Linesmen at Wimbledon Tennis Championships from Next Year
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club issued a press release on October 9 announcing that next year's Wimbledon Championships will see the full introduction of AI-based Live Electronic Line Calling to replace human linesmen. It was announced that next year's Wimbledon Championships will fully introduce AI-based Live Electronic Line Calling to replace human linesmen. The Live Electronic Line Calling system is said to help umpires determine the trajectory of a tennis ball's landing point, and the club claims to have conducted extensive...- 5.2k
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Survey reveals 28% adults in UK have experienced 'AI onomatopoeia' scam, 46% know nothing about it
With the development of AI technology, telecom fraudsters have also begun to try to cheat their victims by means of AI face swapping and AI voice mimicry. Today, this new type of scam has become a global problem that many countries need to face. Local time 18, according to Metro reports, Starling Bank for more than 3,000 people in the United Kingdom, a survey shows that "voice" fraud has now become a common problem in the local area, the technology is able to use AI from just three seconds of audio to "create" the victim's friends and relatives. The technology uses AI to "create" the voices of victims' friends and family from as little as three seconds of audio. The latest figures show that more than a quarter of UK adults... -
UK signs first international treaty on artificial intelligence
The declaration, also signed by the European Union, the United States and Israel, aims to mitigate the threat that artificial intelligence may pose to human rights, democracy and the rule of law The Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence was signed at a conference in Vilnius. It aims to piece together a patchwork of AI protocols into a unified global framework. The UK government has signed the first international treaty on AI, a move aimed at preventing misuse of the technology, such as spreading misinformation or using biased data to make decisions. Under the legally binding agreement, countries must adopt safeguards against any threat to human rights, democracy and the rule of law posed by AI...- 7.4k
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Amazon's partnership with Anthropic AI under investigation by UK competition regulator
Recently, the cooperation between Amazon and artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has triggered an investigation by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The investigation is about whether Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic will affect market competition. The CMA said that they have enough information to believe that this cooperation may have an adverse impact on the UK market, so they decided to conduct an in-depth investigation. Source Note: The picture is generated by AI, and the picture licensing service provider Midjourney Amazon expressed disappointment and believed that this investigation was unnecessary...- 1.9k
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New UK government shelved $170 million in funding for AI project
Not long ago, the new Labour government in the UK promised to put artificial intelligence (AI) at the heart of its agenda. However, now they have shelved $170 million in funding originally intended for AI and technology projects in order to balance the national accounts. The new government said this was because they inherited a financial mess from the Conservatives, and the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, even accused the previous government of "covering up" a $27.9 billion public spending gap. Source Note: The picture is generated by AI, and the picture is authorized by Midjourney. In this fiscal crunch…- 2.6k
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New AI model predicts Alzheimer's disease with an accuracy rate of 82%, which can effectively reduce misdiagnosis
Scientists at the University of Cambridge in the UK have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can accurately predict the likelihood of early dementia patients developing Alzheimer's disease when the disease exceeds 80%. The research team said that this new method can reduce the need for invasive and expensive diagnostic tests, while improving treatment outcomes in the early stages of the disease and increasing the chances that interventions (such as lifestyle changes or new drugs) will work. More than 55 million people suffer from dementia worldwide, of which 60-80% is the type of Alzheimer's disease, which causes $820 billion in economic losses each year. It is estimated that in the future…- 5.5k
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Samsung acquires Oxford Semantic Technologies in the UK: local AI can simulate human methods to handle complex tasks
Samsung (July 18) issued a press release announcing the acquisition of Oxford Semantic Technologies, a British knowledge graph startup, to further enhance local AI capabilities and provide users with a more personalized AI experience. According to public information, Oxford Semantic Technologies was founded in 2017 by Ian Horrocks, Boris Motik and Bernardo Cuenca Grau…- 2.3k
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UK regulators are investigating Microsoft's dealings with Inflection AI
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a statement on July 16 saying that it is investigating Microsoft's hiring of some former employees of Inflection AI and the relevant arrangements reached with Inflection. The regulator is concerned that this move may lead to a "substantial reduction in competition." Image source Pexels The CMA said in a statement that the deadline for making a first-stage decision is September 11, when the agency will announce whether to transfer the case to a second-stage in-depth investigation. In April this year, the CMA said it was soliciting public opinions...- 2.1k
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UK regulator calls for intervention in Meta's AI data training
Recently, Meta's plan to use user data to train its artificial intelligence system has attracted widespread public attention. This plan not only involves public data, but also includes users' non-public data. This move has been challenged under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), especially complaints from the Open Rights Group. The organization has submitted a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner's Office, requesting an investigation into Meta's privacy policy. According to Meta, the data processing is based on "legitimate interests", but many people have expressed doubts about this...- 2.7k
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The dust has settled, British AI chip company Graphcore has been acquired by SoftBank
According to Graphcore's official website, the troubled British AI chip company has been acquired by SoftBank. According to the agreement, Graphcore will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank and continue to operate under its current name. The two parties did not disclose the specific transaction value. Graphcore was founded in Bristol, a city in southwest England in 2016, and has launched several generations of AI workload accelerators called Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU for short). Graphcore was once regarded as "…- 3.2k