UK scientists at risk of losing AI access ‘at a whim’

UK scientists are at risk of being cut off “at a whim” from key technologies in space, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing because the country lacks sovereign capabilities in these key research areas, MPs have warned.

Urging ministers to clarify how the UK will become less dependent on foreign companies and governments for access to important AI systems, a new report by the House of Commons’ science, innovation and technology select committee calls for the creation of an “over-arching plan” for tech sovereignty.

Although the previous Conservative government set out an “own-collaborate-access” framework for the UK’s approach to investing in specific critical science and research technologies, the current Labour administration has not referred to this framework in any of its publications, explains the report published on 7 July.

Neither does the UK have a list of countries with whom it would cooperate, with outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer stating that the publication of any list of technologies requiring UK investment would mean “telegraphing our specific vulnerabilities to hostile actors”.

However, the absence of a “coherent strategic framework” makes it difficult to understand the government’s approach to improving resilience in sovereign capabilities, continue the MPs, stating that the government is taking an “opportunistic approach” to international agreements in science and technology.

The report calls for a clear framework for science partnerships and engagements, backed by delivery plans to provide certainty for industry. Without this, the UK risks “substituting activity for strategy”, weakening its international credibility and wider ambitions, it says.

The US’ recent restrictions on some AI models such as Anthropic highlights the risk of relying on allies for access to technologies that are critical to economic growth and national security, and that the government must protect its own tech sovereignty, MPs explain. It needs to set out realistic ambitions for sovereign capabilities in key sectors such as AI, quantum and space, they add.

Chi Onwurah, the committee’s chair, said the UK was in the “premier division of science and the premier division for diplomacy, but we don’t know where we stand in the field of science diplomacy”.

“As geopolitics is turned upside down and the world becomes increasingly competitive, we must be able to leverage our world-class science and research to advance our diplomatic and economic goals. Without a clear plan, the government will be unable to achieve this,” she continued, adding this “failure risks undermining the UK’s tech sovereignty”.

Rejecting the claim that publishing a strategy on sovereign capability would pose a threat to national security, the report states that “limiting transparency around the UK’s ambitions for sovereign capabilities is unlikely to be hiding anything from competitors such as Russia and China, but it is leaving UK tech companies in the dark”.

If necessary, the information on sovereign capability could be shared in confidence with parliament’s intelligence and security committee, which would allow it to “guide investment, procurement and research funding decisions”, it adds.

Stressing the need for the UK to establish its own stand-alone infrastructure in key areas, Onwurah warned that leveraging its own scientific capabilities “may not be sufficient” to gain reliable access to certain technologies given the current geopolitical uncertainty.

“The government needs a realistic plan to achieve sovereign capabilities in critical areas or risk having its access cut off at the whim of its partners,” she said, stating the failure to plan for this would “risk [the UK] falling even further behind in the global race for science and technology capability, undermining our economic prosperity and national security”.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com