UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will invest more than £100mil to help regulators and universities tackle challenges around artificial intelligence, as part of his government’s efforts to make the UK a global leader in the emerging technology.

Almost £90mil will be used to launch nine new research hubs at universities across the UK, the government said, as well as a partnership with the US on the responsible use of AI. The plan will be set out in its response to a consultation on AI regulation to be published Tuesday, and will also include £10mil of funding for regulators and £19mil will be spent on 21 projects to develop machine-learning technologies to drive productivity.

"We have begun to grip the risks immediately, which in turn is paving the way for the UK to become one of the first countries in the world to reap the benefits of AI safely,” Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Michelle Donelan said in a statement.

In its consultation response, the government will say that while it’s not rushing to legislate on AI safety, it will set out a case for imposing requirements on advanced general-purpose AI models - which have a wide range of possible uses. Sunak hosted an AI safety summit last year, and has warned that the technology would make it easier to build chemical and biological weapons, facilitate cyber-attacks and even pose a risk to humanity itself.

On Tuesday, the UK and France will also jointly host a conference in London on how to tackle "hackers for hire” and the malicious use of commercial cyber tools. Representatives from 35 nations are expected to attend, the UK said.

Ahead of a UK general election this year, the poll-leading opposition Labour Party is also putting AI and technology on its agenda. Shadow technology secretary Peter Kyle will travel to Washington DC this week for discussions with the US government and companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google and Apple, Labour said in a statement.

 - Bloomberg