The UK government's artificial intelligence strategy has been criticised by experts who warn it could entrench dependency on US technology companies rather than fostering domestic innovation. Ministers have promoted the use of AI in public services, with technology secretary Peter Kyle backing AI-generated discharge letters in the NHS, claiming the technology could process complex conversations between doctors and patients, slashing paperwork and streamlining services. The government says applying AI across the public sector could save £45bn.
However, Cecilia Rikap, a researcher at University College London, has warned that Britain risks becoming a satellite of the US tech industry, with its public infrastructure serving as a testing ground and data source for American AI models hosted on US-owned cloud networks. She cautioned that the UK should not become a site of 'extractivism', where value in the form of knowledge, labour or electricity is supplied by Britain but monetised in the US.
Concerns have also been raised about the lack of a domestic cloud ecosystem and the fact that public data, much of it from the NHS and local authorities, may be used to train models built abroad, with benefits accruing to US shareholders rather than the British public. Even job creation promises are questioned, as datacentres, the physical backbone of AI, are capital-intensive and each employs only about 50 people.
MIT economist and Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu has offered a sobering view, arguing that today's AI rollout is geared almost entirely toward labour displacement rather than augmentation. He sees a choice between AI empowering workers or replacing them, and currently it is doing the latter. In a 2024 paper, Acemoglu challenged Goldman Sachs' forecast that AI would lead to global growth of 7% (about $7tn), estimating instead under $1tn in gains, much captured by US big tech.
The deeper problem, according to analysts, is one of imagination. A government serious about digital sovereignty might build a public cloud, fund open-source AI models, and create institutions to steer technological development toward social ends. Instead, the UK is offered efficiency-by-outsourcing. The Online Safety Act shows digital sovereignty can enforce national rules on global platforms, but current turmoil at the Alan Turing Institute suggests a lack of a clear plan, with the UK government appearing dazzled by American AI.
