UKRI AI strategy makes bold choices where UK can lead the world

This includes areas such as:

• explainable artificial intelligence (AI)
• edge computing
• human-in-the-loop systems
• agentic AI
• sustainable AI systems

This is a transformational moment for UK innovation.

The AI strategy will turn AI research into practical benefits for people from real-world products to better healthcare and public services that will improve everyday life.

Record investment

In the recent Spending Review settlement, UKRI committed a record £1.6 billion of funding directly targeted at the AI sector over the next four years.

This is UKRI's biggest single investment area for 2026 to 2030.

This sits alongside significant additional AI investment woven through the broader UKRI budget.

The new strategy signals UKRI's intention to make major investments in mathematics, computer science and engineering research, which underpin AI expertise.

Promise of tomorrow's technologies

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who is leading the UK delegation at the India AI Impact Summit, said:

The UK is backing its pioneering AI leadership with more than £1.6 billion in investment to make sure the best of British expertise develops the next wave of AI innovations.

Together we are turning potential into progress and that's the ambition I am bringing to the AI Summit in India this week.

From spotting cancers earlier to cutting backlogs in public services, new research into AI will be a game-changer, bringing the promise of tomorrow's technologies to the UK today.

Potential of combining AI expertise

UK AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said:

The potential of combining our AI expertise with our peerless R&D community is a game-changer.

This plan will harness AI to accelerate both the pace and possibility of scientific endeavour.

We are already seeing AI change the game for what's possible in fields from health, to energy, and beyond.

Boldly backing this technology is how we push our Great British innovators to further success, and build a path to breakthroughs that boost our health, wealth, and wellbeing.

Developing talent

World-class researchers and businesses across the UK will benefit from better access to the right tools, training and infrastructure to seize growth opportunities for the UK in one of the fastest growing sectors.

The strategy commits to expanding doctoral and fellowship routes co-designed with businesses to ensure future AI technologies will be built in the UK.

It will ensure recognised career frameworks for research software engineers, data scientists and ethics specialists.

Promoting growth

AI is one of the central growth sectors in the UK's industrial strategy.

UKRI's plan will turn the UK's scientific excellence into economic advantage by supporting regional clusters, creating new jobs and backing technologies with high-growth potential.

This long-term approach will create a vibrant AI sector that drives national competitiveness, unlocks private capital, multinational investment and attracts frontier labs.

It will help to position the UK as a global home for AI.

Unlocking our deep strengths

Professor Charlotte Deane, Senior Responsible Owner for the UKRI AI Programme and Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, said:

The UK has deep strengths in AI.

From the country of Alan Turing and Ada Lovelace, we have a world-class tradition in mathematics and computer science.

This strategy will turn that research excellence into national advantage.

To do that, we must make bold choices in areas where the UK can genuinely lead the world.

UKRI will play a central role in backing the full innovation pathway from fundamental research to prototypes to scale-up.

By uniting universities, businesses, industry and government we can unlock the potential we have long had but have not yet fully mobilised.

Areas of focus

Under the new strategic framework, investment will focus on six priority areas:

• advancing technology development
• transforming research through AI
• developing AI skills and talent
• accelerating innovation for economic growth and societal benefit
• championing responsible and trustworthy AI
• building world-class AI data and infrastructure

Central to UKRI's plan is building a strong research and innovation community with the full spectrum of skills.

This will develop the next generation of AI leaders and deliver a pipeline of domestic and global talent for years to come.

A coordinated national approach

The strategy complements the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's (DSIT) AI for Science Strategy, published in November 2025.

It forms a key part of delivering the government's AI Opportunities Action Plan and underpins the government's ambitions under the industrial strategy to kickstart economic growth.

UKRI is uniquely positioned to deliver this ambition as the only public body investing across the entire value chain from skills and infrastructure to technology development.

It will unite universities, industry and government to take ideas from lab to market.

Building on success

UKRI-backed AI research is already making a difference to everyday life, from a system spotting railway faults before they cause delays to a tool detecting online harm to keep us safe.

In healthcare, AI-powered brain imaging is helping to identify early signs of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Now, UKRI is putting its weight behind AI.

Under the new strategy, it will help to deliver:

• up to £137 million as part of DSIT's AI for Science Strategy to back AI-enabled scientific discovery starting with drug discovery and new treatments
• up to £250 million to scale up cloud compute capacity for the AI Research Resource
• £36 million to upgrade the University of Cambridge's 'DAWN' supercomputer supporting breakthroughs in areas like healthcare and environmental modelling

Fuelling curiosity-driven research

Today's AI is built on decades of curiosity-driven research across mathematics, computer science, neuroscience and linguistics.

The strategy will create an environment where discovery-led research continues to thrive.

It will simplify programmes and remove barriers, supporting researchers through the journey from fundamental research to prototypes to scale-up.

Top image: Credit: Dragon Claws, iStock, Getty Images Plus via Getty Images