UK government wants to launch AI Growth Zones for jobs and innovation boost

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The UK Government is accepting bids for 'AI Growth Zones'
These will focus on local authorities with access to energy sources
Growth Zones are part of the government's AI Action Plan

The UK Government is ramping up its "Plan for Change" with the launch of ‘AI Growth Zones’, designed to focus on deindustrialised areas of the UK ready for re-development.

The Government is encouraging local and regional authorities to submit their bids - especially those with ‘existing access to power or which would be suitable to establish major energy infrastructure’, such as those close to nuclear reactors, solar stations and wind farms, or battery storage.

The launch follows the government’s masterplan to ‘unleash AI’ in the British economy by investing heavily in data centres and by ‘unlocking’ public data to allow researchers access for training AI models.

AI superpower

Within the AI Action plan, the Growth Zones aim to speed up the construction of AI infrastructure and allow better access to the energy grid. This is despite the considerable strain this would put on the national grid, as data centre energy use is set to spike ‘six-fold’ in a decade.

The Government aims to market the UK as an AI ‘world leader’ and to attract tech investments - and claims to be already bringing in ‘millions per hour’ in private sector funding.

By attracting investment and building connected infrastructure, the ‘Growth Zones’ hope to tap into the UK’s economic potential and create ‘thousands’ of local jobs, ‘revitalising’ local communities.

“These new AI Growth Zones will deliver untold opportunities – sparking new jobs, fresh investment and ensuring every corner of the country has a real stake in our AI-powered future” said Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned in how we can harness expertise from all over the UK to deliver new opportunities, fresh growth, better public services and cement our position as an AI pioneer.”

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Ellen has been writing for almost four years, with a focus on post-COVID policy whilst studying for BA Politics and International Relations at the University of Cardiff, followed by an MA in Political Communication. Before joining TechRadar Pro as a Junior Writer, she worked for Future Publishing’s MVC content team, working with merchants and retailers to upload content.