The UK’s ambition to be at the forefront of artificial intelligence is something we should all support. But the manner in which the government’s AI upskilling strategy is being implemented threatens to put the cart before the horse, overlooking the reality of how innovation works.
There are “nationwide” skills programmes in place. For example, through a landmark government-industry partnership, the UK now aims to deliver essential AI training to 7.5 million workers – that’s roughly a fifth of the workforce – by the year 2030.
Yet despite this national ambition, much of the focus in practice has gone into hyper-regional efforts, such as strengthening the ‘Oxbridge growth corridor’. That may carry the reputation, but it risks overlooking clusters of talent in other parts of the country and reinforcing the North-South divide. Upskilling must be genuinely national.
AI talent doesn’t just sit in labs or lecture halls. It’s found in small businesses across every region, where people are experimenting, building and creating the products that will define the next decade of the tech sector. If upskilling isn’t nationwide, reaching diverse communities, industries and regions, we’re concentrating opportunity in too few places.
Startups left out
Policymakers also risk prioritising large corporations over the UK’s AI ecosystem, which largely consists of small, incredibly talented teams trying to expand and develop their businesses. They require a very different type of support than international tech giants.
For most startups, the biggest obstacle is not a lack of ideas or ambition, it’s the process of hiring talent. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the rises to employer NIC (national insurance contributions), increasing the rate from 13.8% to 15% and lowering the threshold from £9,100 to £5,000, will add a 7.1% real-term rise to the price of hiring a full-time employee on the national living wage and 10.6% for part-time workers.
Even smaller gestures, such as introducing national insurance contribution cuts tied to revenue or head count, might give startups more resources to hire and retain UK employees.
Additionally, our immigration policy risks holding back progress. The number of science, research and engineering visas decreased by a third in the later months of 2024. This should raise serious warning signs for the UK’s AI readiness. Hiring the world’s best AI talent doesn’t mean a lack of opportunities for domestic workers. Global expertise and UK talent should strengthen each other.
Turning ideas into impact
The UK has always been strong on research. The issue, historically, has been commercialisation. There are simply too many ideas that remain in the lab or get swallowed up by big companies, because startups are not given proper support to grow and scale.
We have to develop talent and create a system where ideas can thrive, whether that is through more intelligent funding, improved incentives or policy centered around small companies and startups. A lot of this comes down to mindset: the UK is still too risk-averse. More often than not, failure is seen as career-ending rather than as a stepping stone to better things. The UK needs to build a culture that rewards entrepreneurship and risk-taking rather than punishing failure.
Grant schemes such as Innovate UK should be sufficient, but limited categories, time-sensitive deadlines and complex documents and hurdles to get through means many smaller businesses don’t bother to apply. In many cases, they lack the resources or knowledge to apply. Corporations with dedicated grant teams are able to scoop up those benefits instead.
The UK must invest in AI capabilities. However, without the right foundations, training programmes won’t deliver lasting impact. Most companies are ready to adopt AI into their workflows, but they need support for embedding AI into systems like sales, customer service and operations – not just training people to write better prompts.
It’s time to be bold
For the UK to be an entrepreneurial country where people can innovate, it’ll need bold, focused investment, along with government policy that reflects the way innovation actually takes place today.
This can only be achieved with more inclusive, national talent initiatives, wiser immigration and tax incentives to help startups hire and retain talent, coupled with funding systems that work for small businesses and a shift from focusing on prestige projects to enabling real-world impact across sectors and regions.
If we get this right, the UK can fulfil its ambition of being a world leader in AI. But if we get this wrong, we run the risk of training a generation of people who will take their ideas and their ambitions elsewhere.
The UK’s ambition to be at the forefront of artificial intelligence is something we should all support. But the manner in which the government's AI upskilling strategy is being implemented threatens to put the cart before the horse, overlooking the reality of how innovation works.
There are “nationwide” skills programmes in place. For example, through a landmark government-industry partnership, the UK now aims to deliver essential AI training to 7.5 million workers – that's roughly a fifth of the workforce – by the year 2030.
Yet despite this national ambition, much of the focus in practice has gone into hyper-regional efforts, such as strengthening the ‘Oxbridge growth corridor’. That may carry the reputation, but it risks overlooking clusters of talent in other parts of the country and reinforcing the North-South divide. Upskilling must be genuinely national.
