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OpenAI and the UK government have signed a new strategic partnership aimed at expanding AI security research collaborations and exploring significant investments in British AI infrastructure, including data centres. The partnership builds on OpenAI's existing presence in London, where the company established its first international office in 2023. The team has grown to over 100 staff contributing to frontier AI model development and supporting British businesses, developers, and start-ups.
The memorandum of understanding ( a non-binding commitments), signed by Technology Secretary Peter Kyle and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, outlines plans to deploy AI across government services including justice, defence, security, and education technology. Under the partnership, OpenAI will also explore potential routes to deliver the infrastructure priorities laid out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, supporting the governments ambitions to strengthen UK sovereign AI capabilities. This may involve OpenAI investing in and supporting the AI Growth Zones, first announced in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, which has attracted over 200 bids from across the country and is backed by £2bn in the recent Spending Review. These zones are designed to become hotbeds for AI infrastructure, with a recent announcement confirming that Scotland and Wales will both host AI Growth Zones as part of the government's Compute Strategy.
The UK represents one of OpenAI's top three global markets for paid subscribers and API developers, with organisations such as NatWest, Virgin Atlantic, AI unicorn Synthesia and institutions such as Oxford University already leveraging its technology. OpenAI's tech also underpins several government tools, including "Humphrey," Whitehall's AI assistant designed to reduce administrative burdens across the civil service, and "Consult," a bespoke tool that automatically sorts public consultation responses (See - Plans and progress of UK government AI adoption).
Posted by: Simon Baxter at 09:08