AI Opportunities Action Plan — Government Response (CP 1242)

AI Opportunities Action Plan
Government Response
CP 1242

AI Opportunities Action Plan
Government Response
Presented to Parliament
by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
by Command of His Majesty

January 2025

CP 1242

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AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Contents
Contents __________________________________________________________________ 3
Foreword by the Prime Minister ________________________________________________ 4
Government Response to the AI Opportunities Action Plan ___________________________ 5
Lay the foundations to enable AI _____________________________________________ 5
Change lives by embracing AI _______________________________________________ 7
Secure our future with homegrown AI__________________________________________ 7
Next steps _______________________________________________________________ 7
Building sufficient, secure, and sustainable infrastructure __________________________ 8
Unlocking data assets in the public and private Sector_____________________________ 9
Training, retaining and attracting the next generation of AI scientists and founders ______ 11
Enabling safe and trusted AI development through regulation, safety and assurance ____ 13
Adopt a “scan -> pilot -> scale” approach in government __________________________ 15
Enable public and private sectors to reinforce each other _________________________ 18
Address private-sector-user adoption barriers __________________________________ 19
Advancing AI ___________________________________________________________ 20

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Foreword by the Prime Minister
Artificial Intelligence is the defining opportunity of our generation. It is not a technology that is
coming; a future revolution on the horizon. It is already here, materially changing lives –
preventing illness in our NHS, creating exciting new companies in our economy, pushing the
boundaries of scientific discovery in our universities. It will turbocharge every mission in this
Government’s Plan for Change. And the potential for further innovation is vast.
AI-powered scans can help doctors detect disease earlier. AI can cut NHS waiting lists by
scheduling better appointments. It allows teachers to personalise their lessons to their
children's needs. It can support small businesses with their record-keeping, spot potholes more
quickly, and help speed up planning applications. Indeed, right across our public services, it
offers frontline staff the precious gift of time. A chance to reconnect with the human, face-to-
face aspects of their job, which I know is something that attracts so many people to public
service in the first place.
In short, in the coming years, there is barely an aspect of our society that will remain
untouched by this force of change. But this Government will not sit back passively and wait for
change to come. It is our responsibility to harness it and make it work for working people. And
it is our responsibility to make sure that Britain maintains its position as a world leader in AI,
even as the competition increases. Some countries are going to make AI breakthroughs and
export them to the world. Other countries will be left to buy those breakthroughs by importing
them. This Action Plan sets out how Britain will be the former – a plan to make our country an
AI superpower.
We start from a position of strength. This is the nation of Babbage, Turing and Lovelace –
driving change is in our DNA. Already, Britain is the third largest AI market in the world. We
have established a world-leading infrastructure for AI safety. Vast resources of talent in our
universities and scientific institutions. Numerous technology companies, operating at the AI
frontier, are proud to call our country home. And our values of democracy, open commerce
and the rule of law are suited to the test of the times – crucial for the free exchange of ideas
needed to maximise AI’s potential.
Nonetheless, this race is speeding up and we must continue to move fast. Within days of our
election, we commissioned Matt Clifford CBE to develop this plan. Today, I am happy to
endorse it and take the recommendations forward. Harnessing AI and using it to deliver our
Plan for Change requires ambition, purpose and focus. This is a unique chance to boost
growth, raise living standards, transform public services, create the companies of the future in
Britain and deliver our Plan for Change. This Action Plan shows we are ready to take it.
The Rt Hon Keir Starmer KCB KC MP, Prime Minister

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Government Response to the AI
Opportunities Action Plan
Lay the foundations to enable AI
Building sufficient, secure, and sustainable AI infrastructure
The government is committed to building cutting-edge, secure, and sustainable AI
infrastructure. We will take forward the recommendation to expand our sovereign compute
capacity by at least 20x by 2030 – as compute needs grow, such expansion is critical if the UK
is to keep pace.
The government will now start delivery of a new state of the art supercomputing facility that will
double the capacity of our national AI Research Resource. DSIT will immediately start to
develop the business case process and proceed to lock in a site and suppliers in 2025. UK
researchers and SMEs will be able to begin accessing the AI Research Resource in early
2025, using the powerful supercomputers at Bristol (Isambard AI) and Cambridge (Dawn),
enabling our best and brightest to make new discoveries and help drive economic growth.
In recognition of the importance of compute for scientific disciplines beyond AI, DSIT is also
extending the UK’s leading scientific computing resource, Archer2, at Edinburgh University,
until November 2026. This will ensure that our leading scientists have the resources they need.
This investment in sovereign compute complements the more than £25 billion of private sector
investment in new UK data centres announced since July.1
The government will also work with stakeholders to develop a long-term compute strategy that
will ensure the UK has the AI infrastructure and compute capacity it needs to deliver new
scientific innovations and discoveries that will drive productivity and growth throughout the
economy. The government will publish the Compute Strategy in Spring 2025.
AI Growth Zones
As the Action Plan sets out, the UK must maximise opportunities to crowd in private sector
investment and facilitate close government-industry collaboration. The government will create
AI Growth Zones (AIGZs), areas with enhanced access to power and support for planning
approvals, to accelerate the build out of AI infrastructure on UK soil. The government will
deliver the first AI Growth Zone at Culham, the headquarters of the UK Atomic Energy
Authority (UKAEA), subject to the agreement of a public-private partnership that delivers

1 Department for Science Innovation and Technology, ‘Press Release: Tech Secretary welcomes foreign
investment in UK data centres which will spur economic growth and AI innovation in Britain’, 2024 (Accessed 04
December 2024)

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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benefits to the local area, the UKAEA’s fusion energy mission and the UK’s wider national AI
infrastructure. The government and UKAEA will seek a private-sector partner who would
develop one of the UK’s largest AI data centres, beginning with 100MW of capacity and with
plans to scale up to 500MW. The pilot would pioneer innovative public-private models to
deliver secure, dedicated public sector computing capacity, supporting key national priorities. A
process to identify a private sector partner will commence in Spring 2025, alongside steps to
select further AI Growth Zones. AIGZs have the potential to grow the AI sector to support AI
adoption across the economy and enable the government to build new strategic partnerships
with leading AI players. They also have the potential to deliver local benefits, including job
creation, enhanced digital and energy infrastructure and sustainability initiatives.
AI Energy Council
Clean and renewable energy solutions are needed to power the increasing energy demands of
AI. To identify potential solutions, the Science and Technology Secretary of State and the
Energy Secretary will co-chair a new AI Energy Council formed of industry leaders from the
energy and AI sectors. The Energy Council will provide expert insight on the energy needs of
AI, opportunities to accelerate investment in the development of renewable and innovative
energy solutions, including Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and the role of AI in a modern,
efficient and sustainable energy system.
National Data Library
To make new advances in AI that benefit our society we need to ensure researchers and
innovators have access to new data. We will responsibly, securely and ethically unlock the
value of public sector data assets to support AI research and innovation through the creation of
the National Data Library and the government’s wider data access policy. Both will be
underpinned by strong privacy-preserving safeguards. The government will set out further
details on the National Data Library in due course.
AI Skills and Talent
Creating a strong talent pipeline and ensuring we address wider skills demands will be critical
to realising our AI ambitions. Prestigious scholarship and fellowship programmes have an
important role to play, alongside broader efforts to drive greater diversity across the AI talent
pool. The creation of Skills England and the Curriculum and Assessment Review will also
enable us to upskill the existing workforce as well as teach young people the key skills they
need to succeed in the future. DSIT will work with DfE, DBT and UKRI to take forward the
recommendations designed to attract and support top talent and ensure we continue to train
world-class AI experts.
Regulation
Ensuring we have the right regulatory regime that addresses risks and actively supports
innovation will drive AI trust and adoption across the economy. The government will set out its
approach on AI regulation and will act to ensure that we have a competitive copyright regime
that supports both our AI sector and the creative industries.

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Change lives by embracing AI
AI presents exciting opportunities to improve people’s lives, including by making our public
services better. To transform our public services with AI and encourage the private sector to
stimulate growth through AI adoption, we will take forward Matt Clifford’s recommendations on
adoption, including to employ a flexible ‘Scan, Pilot, Scale’ approach to adoption of AI across
our public services. We intend to accept these recommendations in full and start by prioritising
the scaling up of successful pilots that adopt AI in the public interest, such as Caddy, led by the
Incubator for AI.
Government will appoint AI Champions in particular sectors highlighted in the Industrial
Strategy. DSIT will also work with devolved and local government to identify AI adoption
opportunities to drive growth.
Secure our future with homegrown AI
The Action Plan highlights how quickly AI has advanced. A small number of companies at the
frontier of AI are set to wield outsized global influence. The UK has a window of opportunity to
secure a stake, strengthening our global leadership in AI, protecting our economic security and
positioning UK citizens to benefit.
To seize this opportunity, the government will launch a new function with the mandate to
strengthen the UK’s sovereign AI capabilities by supporting national champions at the frontier
of AI. The function will operate with agility and draw on wider government functions to partner
with AI companies, including by:
• Leveraging AI Growth Zones to support partnered companies and ensuring that new
compute capacity is utilised strategically.
• Exploring making available high-potential data sets for partnered companies, in
coordination with the National Data Library.
• Supporting top AI talent to relocate to the UK to work with UK-based partnered
companies.
• Helping to build relationships between partnered AI companies and the UK’s national
security community.
Achieving this ambitious mandate will require an agile team with leading industry expertise.
The government will provide further details by Spring 2025.
Next steps
The government will continue to develop its policy response to the Action Plan as part of the
broader work ahead of the Spring 2025 Spending Review. It will further set out its wider
approach to AI in the Industrial Strategy’s Digital and Technologies Sector Plan. To track

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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effectively against the delivery of this plan, the Technology Secretary of State has created an
AI Opportunities Unit in DSIT which will report to him regularly on progress across government.
Building sufficient, secure, and sustainable infrastructure
Recommendation Response Delivery
Timeline
Recommendation 1
Set out, within six months, a long-
term plan for UK’s AI infrastructure
needs, backed by a 10-year
investment commitment.
Agree. DSIT will publish a long-term
compute strategy in Spring 2025 and
is committed to setting out a 10-year
roadmap for compute.

Spring 2025
Recommendation 2
Expand the capacity of AIRR by at
least 20x by 2030 – starting within 6
months.
Agree. DSIT will set out how we will
deliver on this as part of its long-term
compute strategy. We are making a
start next year by starting delivery of
a new state of the art supercomputing
facility that will at least double the
capacity of our national AI Research
Resource.
24/25 FY to
2030/2031
FY
Recommendation 3
Strategically allocate sovereign
compute by appointing mission-
focused “AIRR programme
directors” with significant autonomy.
Agree. DSIT will set out mission-
focused plans for allocation of
compute as part of a long-term
compute strategy that will be
published in Spring 2025.
Spring 2025
Recommendation 4
Establish ‘AI Growth Zones’ (AIGZ)
to facilitate the accelerated build out
of AI data centres.
Agree. The government will deliver
the first AI Growth Zone at Culham,
the headquarters of the UK Atomic
Energy Authority (UKAEA), subject to
the agreement of a public-private
partnership that delivers benefits to
the local area, the UKAEA’s fusion
energy mission and the UK’s wider
national AI infrastructure. By Spring
2025, the government will set out a
process to identify and select further
AIGZs. This process will take into
account how AI Growth Zones can
Spring 2025

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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support regional growth opportunities,
including those identified in Local
Growth Plans and align with the
industrial Strategy’s Digital and
Technologies Sector. It will also
consider energy requirements,
working with the National Energy
System Operator.
Recommendation 5
Mitigate the sustainability and
security risks of AI infrastructure,
while positioning the UK to take
advantage of opportunities to
provide solutions.
Agree. DSIT will set out how the UK
will seek to address the sustainability
and security challenges of AI
infrastructure as part of its long-term
compute strategy.
Spring 2025
Recommendation 6
Agree international compute
partnerships with likeminded
countries to increase the types of
compute capability available to
researchers and catalyse research
collaborations.
Agree. DSIT will set out its approach
to international collaborations as part
of its long-term compute strategy.
Spring 2025

Unlocking data assets in the public and private Sector
Recommendation Response Delivery
Timeline
Recommendation 7
Rapidly identify at least five high
impact public data sets it (National
Data Library - NDL) will seek to
make available to AI researchers
and innovators.
Agree. DSIT will explore how it will
take forward this recommendation as
it develops the National Data Library
and its wider data access policy. The
government will set out further details
on the National Data Library and data
access policy in due course.
Further
details
published by
Summer
2025
Recommendation 8 Agree. See above. Further
details
published by

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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(NDL) Strategically shape what data
is collected, rather than just making
data available that already exists.
Summer
2025
Recommendation 9
(NDL) Develop and publish
guidelines and best practice for
releasing open government data
sets which can be used for AI,
including on the development of
effective data structures and data
dissemination methods.
Agree. See above. Further
details
published by
Summer
2025
Recommendation 10
(NDL) Couple compute allocation
with access to proprietary data sets.
Agree. See above. Further
details
published by
Summer
2025
Recommendation 11
(NDL) Build public sector data
collection infrastructure and finance
the creation of new high-value data
sets that meet public sector,
academia and startup needs.
Agree. See above. Further
details
published by
Summer
2025
Recommendation 12
(NDL) Actively incentivise and
reward researchers and industry to
curate and unlock private data sets.
Agree. See above. Further
details
published by
Summer
2025
Recommendation 13
Establish a copyright cleared British
media asset training data set, which
can be licenced internationally at
scale.
Partially agree. DCMS and DSIT will
engage with partner organisations
and industry to consider the potential
role of government in taking forward
this recommendation.
Spring 2025

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Training, retaining and attracting the next generation of AI
scientists and founders
Recommendation Response Delivery
Timeline
Recommendation 14
Accurately assess the size of the
skills gap.
Agree. Working closely with DSIT
and the Industrial Strategy Council,
Skills England will bring businesses,
training partners and unions together
with national and local government to
develop a clear assessment of the
country’s skills need – including AI
and digital skills – and map pathways
by which they can be filled. Updated
assessments will be published
regularly.
Spring 2025
Recommendation 15
Support Higher Education
Institutions (HEI) to increase the
numbers of AI graduates and teach
industry-relevant skills.
Agree. DSIT and DfE will work
closely with the Office for Students
(OfS) and other stakeholders to
support HEIs to develop appropriate
training, such as AI related degree
provision.
Autumn 2027
Recommendation 16
Increase the diversity of the talent
pool.
Agree. DSIT, supported by the DfE,
will explore how to scale up and
combine where possible, extra-
curricular activities for girls in schools
to cover AI, building on the National
Cyber Security Centre’s successful
work on cyber security skills. DfE and
DSIT will work together with industry
to publish a plan to facilitate
significant and sustained progress on
improving the gender balance across
digital education, training and
employment.
Autumn 2026
Recommendation 17
Expand education pathways into AI.
Agree. Working closely with the
Industrial Strategy Council, Skills
England will bring businesses,
training partners and unions together
Autumn 2026

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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with national and local government to
meet industry workforce digital and AI
skills needs, as set out in the
Industrial Strategy.
Recommendation 18
Launch a flagship undergraduate
and master’s AI scholarship
programme on the scale of Rhodes,
Marshall or Fulbright for students to
study in the UK.
Agree. DSIT will work with UKRI to
explore whether the AI scholarships
are best placed at undergraduate,
master’s or PhD level with the aim to
establish a new, prestigious scheme
by autumn 2026.
Autumn 2026
Recommendation 19
Ensure its lifelong skills programme
is ready for AI.
Agree. DfE will take this forward with
Skills England, aligning with the work
of the independent Curriculum and
Assessment Review (CAR) which will
report in Autumn 2025. DSIT will
engage with the CAR to highlight the
importance of digital and AI skills in
the curriculum.
Autumn 2025
Recommendation 20
Establish an internal headhunting
capability on a par with top AI firms
to bring a small number of truly elite
individuals to the UK.
Agree. DSIT and DBT will consider
how this could be achieved learning
lessons from DBT's existing Global
Entrepreneur and Global Talent
Network programmes.

Spring 2026
Recommendation 21
Explore how the existing
immigration system can be used to
attract graduates from universities
producing some of the world’s top AI
talent.
Partially Agree. The Industrial
Strategy will set out how the UK will
attract highly skilled AI workers from
abroad. The UK offers internationally
competitive visas that can support a
range of individual needs, including
for talent to join UK-based
organisations or to start their own
business. Talented AI graduates from
institutions not on the HPI eligibility
lists can enter the UK through any
one of a number of other visa routes,
including Skilled Worker, Innovator
Summer
2025

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Founder, Government Authorised
Exchange and Global Talent.
Recommendation 22
Expand the Turing AI Fellowships
offer.
Agree. DSIT will work with UKRI to
expand its AI Fellowship programmes
by 2026/27.
Autumn 2026

Enabling safe and trusted AI development through regulation,
safety and assurance
Recommendation Response Delivery
Timeline
Recommendation 23
Continue to support and grow the AI
Safety Institute (AISI) to maintain
and expand its research on model
evaluations, foundational safety and
societal resilience research.
Agree. DSIT will confirm AISI’s
funding through upcoming Spending
Reviews. DSIT will consult on
proposed legislation to provide
regulatory certainty to help kickstart
growth and protect UK citizens and
assets from the critical risks
associated with the next generation of
the most powerful AI models. The
government intends to establish AISI
as a statutory body.
Spring 2025
Recommendation 24
Reform the UK text and data mining
regime so that it is at least as
competitive as the EU.
The government has launched a
consultation.

End of 2024
Recommendation 25
Commit to funding regulators to
scale up their AI capabilities, some
of which need urgent addressing.
Agree. Ahead of the Spending
Review 2025, each sponsor
department will liaise with their
regulator to identify the future
capability needs for their regulators,
taking into account existing funding
models, and how they intend to
mitigate AI risks and drive growth,
Spring 2025

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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which DSIT, with HMT support, will
assess.
Recommendation 26
Ensure all sponsor departments
include a focus on enabling safe AI
innovation in their strategic
guidance to regulators.
Agree. Relevant sponsor
departments commit to stressing the
importance of safe AI innovation in
their strategic guidance to regulators
– where this is identified as an issue,
and where legislation requires/allows
for such guidance to be issued.
DBT and DSIT will work together to
empower the Regulatory Innovation
Office (RIO) to drive regulatory
innovation for technologies and
innovation through behavioural
changes within regulators. Where
appropriate and aligned to the
government’s missions and industrial
strategy, the RIO will work with DBT
to issue targeted strategic guidance
to regulators. DBT will provide a
public update as part of its wider
approach to regulation.
Initially
Spring 2025,
but
continuous
thereafter
Recommendation 27
Work with regulators to accelerate
AI in priority sectors and implement
pro-innovation initiatives like
regulatory sandboxes.
Agree. DSIT, through the RIO, will
identify priority sectors with high-
growth potential and work with
relevant regulators to identify pro-
innovation initiatives. DSIT will update
on progress by Summer 2025.
Initially
Spring 2025,
but
continuous
thereafter
Recommendation 28
Require all regulators to publish
annually how they have enabled AI
innovation in their sector.
Agree. Sponsor departments will
request that regulators with significant
AI activities publicly report on their
activities to promote AI innovation.
Where this is not already happening,
DSIT will work with sponsor
departments to request this and will
provide an update on progress as
part of a wider update on regulators
with significant AI activity by Summer
2025.
Initially
Spring 2025,
but
continuous
thereafter

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Recommendation 29
Support the AI assurance
ecosystem to increase trust and
adoption by:
a) Investing significantly in the
development of new assurance
tools, including through an
expansion to AISI’s systemic AI
safety fast grants programme to
support emerging safety research
and methods.
b) Building Government-backed
high-quality assurance tools that
assess whether AI systems perform
as claimed and work as intended.
Agree. DSIT will seek to prioritise
additional funding for AISI’s Systemic
AI safety programme at Spending
Reviews, as well as support DSIT’s
existing programme of work designed
to stimulate the AI Assurance
ecosystem. DSIT will also explore
other options for growing the
domestic AI safety market and
provide a public update on this by
Spring 2025.
Spring 2026
Recommendation 30
Consider the broader institutional
landscape and the potential of the
Alan Turing Institute to drive
progress at the cutting edge,
support the government’s missions
and attract international talent.
Agree. DSIT will work with the Alan
Turing Institute and UKRI to drive
progress at the cutting edge, support
the government’s missions and
attract international talent.
Update in
Autumn 2025

Adopt a “scan -> pilot -> scale” approach in government
Recommendation Response Delivery
Timeline
Recommendation 31
SCAN – Appoint an AI lead for each
mission to help identify where AI
could be a solution within the
mission setting, considering the user
needs from the outset.
Agree. In its role as Digital Centre for
Government, DSIT will appoint an AI
lead for each mission to help identify
where AI could be a solution.
Update
Autumn
2025.
Ongoing
thereafter

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Recommendation 32
SCAN - A cross-government,
technical horizon scanning and
market intelligence capability that
understands AI capabilities and use-
cases as they evolve to work closely
with mission leads and maximise
the expertise of both.
Agree. DSIT will build a cross-
government technical horizon
scanning and market intelligence
capability that understands AI
capabilities.
Linked to this, the government will
consider how it can support adoption
in the private sector, for example
sharing emergent use-cases and
enabling diffusion across sectors.
Update in
Autumn
2025
Recommendation 33
SCAN – Two-way partnerships with
AI vendors and startups to
anticipate future AI developments
and signal public sector demand.
Agree. DSIT will explore two-way
partnerships with AI vendors and
startups to anticipate future AI
developments and signal public
sector demand.

Update in
Summer
2025
Recommendation 34
PILOT – Consistent use of a
framework for how to source AI –
whether to build in-house, buy or
run innovation challenges – that
evolves over time, given data,
capability, industry contexts and
evaluation of what’s worked.
Agree. DSIT will develop a
framework for sourcing AI – whether
to build in-house, buy or run
innovation challenges.

Summer
2025
Recommendation 35
PILOT – A rapid prototyping
capability that can be drawn on for
key projects where needed,
including technical and delivery
resource to build and test proof of
concepts, leveraging in house AI
expertise, together with specialists
in design and user experience.
Agree. DSIT will have a rapid
prototyping capability as part of the
new Digital Centre of Government in
DSIT.

At Digital
Centre
launch
Recommendation 36
PILOT - Specific support to hire
external AI talent.
Agree. DSIT will build on i.AI and
GDS’s work to hire external AI talent.
Ongoing,
update in

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
17

Autumn
2025
Recommendation 37
PILOT - A data-rich experimentation
environment including streamlined
approach to accessing data sets,
access to language models and
necessary infrastructure like
compute.
Agree. DSIT will build on i.AI’s
experimentation environment
including streamlined approaches to
accessing data sets, access to
language models and necessary
infrastructure like compute.

Update in
Autumn
2025
Recommendation 38
PILOT - A faster, multi-stage gated
and scaling AI procurement process
that enables easy and quick access
to small-scale funding for pilots and
only layers bureaucratic controls as
the investment-size gets larger.
Agree. DSIT will scope and
understand options to improve AI
procurement with a faster, multi-
stage, gated process.

Update in
Autumn 2025
Recommendation 39
SCALE - A scaling service for
successful pilots with senior support
and central funding resource.
Agree. DSIT will scope the
development of a scaling service that
takes successful pilots and drives
wide implementation.
Update in
Autumn
2025
Recommendation 40
SCALE - Mission-focused national
AI tenders to support rapid adoption
across decentralised systems led by
the mission delivery boards.
Agree. DSIT will scope options to
improve AI procurement with Mission-
focused national AI tenders.
Update in
Autumn
2025
Recommendation 41
SCALE - Development or
procurement of a scalable AI tech
stack that supports the use of
specialist narrow and large
language models for tens or
hundreds of millions of citizen
interactions across the UK.
Agree. DSIT will learn from other
countries, such as Singapore's
GovTech, to explore options for
building on GDS and i.AI’s tech stack.

Update in
Autumn
2025

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
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Recommendation 42
SCALE - Mandating infrastructure
interoperability, code reusability and
open sourcing.
Agree. DSIT will commit to
interoperable, reusable, and open
source code whenever appropriate, in
line with the Technology Code of
Practice.
Update in
Autumn
2025

Enable public and private sectors to reinforce each other
Recommendation Response Delivery
Timeline
Recommendation 43
Procure smartly from the AI
ecosystem as both its largest
customer and as a market shaper.
Agree. DSIT will procure smartly from
the AI ecosystem.

Update in
Autumn 2025
Recommendation 44
Use digital government
infrastructure to create new
opportunities for innovators.
Agree. DSIT will scope options to use
digital government infrastructure to
create new opportunities for
innovators, including through scoping
improvements to AI procurement with
a faster, multi-stage, gated process
and through Mission-focused national
AI tenders.
Update in
Autumn 2025
Recommendation 45
Publish best-practice guidance,
results, case-studies and open-
source solutions through a single,
“AI Knowledge Hub”.
Agree. DSIT will pilot the AI
Knowledge Hub.
Summer
2025
Recommendation 46
In the next three months, the Digital
Centre of Government should
identify a series of quick wins to
support the adoption of the scan,
pilot scale approach and enable
public and private sector to reinforce
each other.
Agree. DSIT has identified the
following ‘quick wins’, and will rapidly
work to:
1. Scale and open source 1-2
public sector-led AI solutions
that are currently in pilot
phase.
Summer
2025

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
19

2. Scale a citizen facing AI tool
that enables citizens to
engage with government in a
more personalised and
efficient way.
3. Run Hackathons, aligned to
the 5 key missions. This will
be a key way to engage
startups in mission delivery.
4. Pilot the AI Knowledge Hub.
5. Appoint an AI lead for each
mission to help identify where
AI could be a solution.

Address private-sector-user adoption barriers
Recommendation Response Delivery
Timeline
Recommendation 47
Leverage the new Industrial
Strategy. The development of a new
Industrial Strategy presents an
opportunity to drive collective action
to support AI adoption across the
economy.
Agree. DSIT will work with HMT, DBT
and lead departments, as part of the
Industrial Strategy development, to
identify opportunities for AI adoption
in key industries. This work will build
on the Cross-government Review of
Technology Adoption for Growth,
Innovation and Productivity led by
Government Chief Scientific Adviser
(GCSA), Professor Dame Angela
McLean with National Technology
Adviser (NTA) Dr Dave Smith.
Spring 2025
Recommendation 48
Appoint AI Sector Champions in key
industries like the life sciences,
financial services and the creative
industries to work with industry and
Agree. DSIT, HMT and DBT will work
via the Industrial Strategy to identify
where industry leaders with AI-
specific sector expertise have a role
to play in driving adoption, informed
by knowledge of the current market
Summer
2025

AI Opportunities Action Plan Government Response
20

government and develop AI
adoption plans.
for solutions and needs of each
sector.
Recommendation 49
Drive AI adoption across the whole
country.
Agree. DSIT will work with devolved
and local government to identify AI
adoption development opportunities
to drive growth and, where an
opportunity is identified, to
incorporate AI adoption objectives
into Local Growth Plans within the
next 12 months.
Initially
Summer
2025, then
continuous

Advancing AI
Recommendation Response Delivery
Timeline
Recommendation 50
Create a new unit, with the power to
partner with the private sector to
deliver the clear mandate of
maximising the UK’s stake in frontier
AI.
Agree. The government will create a
new function which will draw on wider
government functions to partner with
AI companies, including by:
• Leveraging AI Growth Zones to
support partnered companies
and ensuring that new
compute capacity is utilised
strategically.
• Exploring making available
high-potential data sets for
partnered companies, in
coordination with the National
Data Library.
• Supporting top AI talent to
relocate to the UK to work with
UK-based partnered
companies.
• Helping to build relationships
between partnered AI
companies and the UK’s
national security community.
Further
details to be
shared by
Spring 2025

E03258823
ISBN 978-1-5286-5363-3
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