The UK’s Foundation Model Taskforce has been established in response to the UK government’s ambition to become a leader in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI). The task force will be supported by £100 million of investment and will focus on building the UK’s ‘sovereign’ national capabilities, so public services can benefit from the transformational impact of this type of AI. The task force will be modeled on the success of the COVID-19 Vaccines Taskforce and will develop the safe and reliable use of this pivotal AI across the economy and ensure the UK is globally competitive in this strategic technology.

The big picture: Foundation models, including large language models such as ChatGPT and Google Bard, are AI systems trained on large volumes of data such as text, images, video or audio to gain broad and sophisticated capabilities across many tasks. Research suggests that the broad adoption of such systems could triple national productivity growth rates, and contribute billions of pounds to UK GDP, making its adoption a vital opportunity to grow the economy.

The task force aims to focus on opportunities that will establish the UK as a world leader in foundation models and their applications across the economy and acting as a global standard bearer for AI safety. Prime Minister and Technology Secretary says it will work to develop the safety and reliability of foundation models, both at a scientific and commercial level and create opportunities for domestic innovation. The task force will be supported by a range of experts from government and industry and report directly to the Prime Minister and Technology Secretary.

What’s next: The funding will be invested in foundation model infrastructure and public service procurement, with the first pilots targeting public services to launch in the next six months. Through this investment, the UK government hopes to take advantage of the potential of foundation models to speed up diagnoses, drug discovery and development in healthcare and to free up teachers to focus on delivering excellent teaching in education.