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The UK should reduce the cost and complexity of visas for people with expertise in artificial intelligence and create special zones for data centres, a government-commissioned report is expected to say.
The “AI Opportunities Action Plan” by angel investor Matt Clifford, submitted to the government last month and expected to be published in November, sets out dozens of recommendations on how to make Britain more attractive for companies developing machine learning technologies.
Science and tech secretary Peter Kyle has said he would put AI at the heart of the government’s growth agenda, and argued that if the technology was fully integrated into the economy it would increase productivity by 5 per cent.
Kyle commissioned the report in July, asking Clifford to produce a “plan of action” for how to drive growth of the AI sector and support the adoption of the tech across Britain.
Clifford held several roundtables with industry executives, entrepreneurs and investors between July and September to glean insights into how to help nurture British AI companies and prevent them moving abroad.
Several individuals raised concerns about the lengthy bureaucracy and cost of hiring overseas talent, and improving the visa process is expected to be one of Clifford’s recommendations, according to people briefed on the plan.
Another proposal that has been floated is to create “computing zones” to further Kyle’s ambitions to build more data centres across the UK.
These proposed zones would make it easier to build data centres and associated infrastructure — including energy supplies — in certain designated areas of the UK, the people said.
The AI action plan has not been finalised and could still be subject to changes by the government, they added.
Kyle has already designated data centres as “critical national infrastructure” to ensure they have government support to recover from any future cyber attacks and outages, and has indicated he will release poor-quality greenbelt land for their construction.
But several data centre executives have told the Financial Times that one of the biggest barriers to new data centre projects is the uncertain availability and high cost of energy.
Alongside the AI action plan, Kyle will be setting up an “AI opportunities unit” to implement accepted recommendations.
The proposal to ease the visa process for overseas AI experts is likely to face some pushback from the Home Office, given the government’s ambition to reduce net migration to the UK and prevent overseas hiring being used as an alternative to tackling domestic skills shortages.
The most popular route for people with tech and AI skills entering the UK is the global talent visa, which opened in 2020.
About 17,012 global talent visa applications were made between April 2020 and April 2023, with more than 12,000 granted, according to a government assessment of the scheme earlier this year. The assessment found that a third of applicants felt it took longer than expected to complete and submit their application.
Applicants have to be endorsed by a UK body, such as government research body UK Research and Innovation and start-up scaler Tech Nation, costing about £520, and have to wait for their endorsement to be approved before submitting an application, which costs a further £200.
Individuals then have to pay a further £625 immigration health surcharge per year, along with more than £700 per dependant that joins them in the UK.
A government spokesperson said: “Matt Clifford’s AI Opportunities Action Plan will set out an ambitious vision for how the UK can use the technology to ramp up adoption across the economy, kick-start growth and build an AI sector which can scale and compete on the global stage.”
“We will set out our response in due course,” they said.
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