We have the right AI polices – we just need to deliver them
Data centre in Slough (Alamy)
3 min read
We've got the opportunities. We have a plan. Now we need action.
A year ago, the landmark AI Opportunities Action Plan set out the UK’s ambitions to be a world-leading AI hub. And a busy year it’s been: we’ve seen the announcement of four ‘AI growth zones’ earmarked for massive investment and buildout of AI infrastructure, and a flurry of policies covering everything from AI skills to backing tomorrow’s cutting-edge tech.
Although 2025 brought meaningful progress and – speaking as a policy wonk – a fantastic suite of AI policies, 2026 is going to be the crucial test as to whether the government can realise the plan’s potential.
The most immediate problem is delivery – whether we can build the AI infrastructure we need. Several changes make this more likely: AI growth zones signal high political priority; regulations around data centres and the nuclear energy to power them are set to be streamlined.
Yet sticking points remain. We have the highest industrial electricity prices in the world. The promised nuclear revolution of clean and abundant power is unlikely to arrive before the mid-2030s. That leaves an awkward period where it’s not clear how we will power data centres or connect them to our creaking grid. The government will have to decide whether to allow data centres to use gas and ‘on-site’ generation (where data centres are co-located with their power supply), and on what terms. It will have to communicate what it wants to do about the interplay between short-term data centre buildout and its net-zero ambitions.
A bigger elephant in the room is copyright and data
Besides computing power, data is another fundamental input to AI models – but the government tried and failed to reform copyright rules in 2025. Other countries like Japan and the US have adopted frameworks that make it clearer or easier to use data to train AI models. With this impasse, we’re stuck in the worst of both worlds: AI is already reshaping the creative sector, but it is models trained elsewhere doing this, with the UK not reaping all the benefits it could.
A second issue to watch will be whether the benefits of AI can be demonstrated and the risks managed – whether, to quote AI minister Kanishka Narayan, a “British story” on AI can be articulated. Scepticism of AI, already evident in polling, is only likely to increase in 2026.
The technology has advanced over the past year in a way that isn’t fully reflected in government policy, from the rise of reasoning models to autonomous ‘AI agents’ capable of tackling ever-longer tasks. We have not seen an AI ‘jobpocalypse’ obviating swathes of jobs, and recent troubles in the UK for new graduates are difficult to attribute solely to AI. But there are subtle signs that AI is already having an impact: in the US, entry-level employment is down more in AI-exposed fields than in less exposed sectors. This isn’t a crisis yet, but government should be watching with concern.
More growth zones, while great for investment, do not constitute a radical vision to change the way the country works amid profound technological change. Yes, communities will benefit from more funding alongside growth zones, but this is small fry compared to the potential impacts AI could have and the upside from reimagining public services, driving nationwide adoption, or cultivating advanced UK AI industries. Excessive focus on growth zones risks overshadowing this important work.
Last year brought us (most of) the policies we need to succeed. The challenge in 2026 will centre on delivering what was promised last year and making the ‘British story’ on AI more than a slogan.
Sam Robinson, Head of AI at the Social Market Foundation
