The government is moving to put its AI plan into action with the launch of the AI Growth Lab, a key initiative designed to strengthen public trust, drive innovation and unlock growth across critical sectors, including health, construction and finance.
The framework, championed by the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, builds on the foundations of the 2021 National AI Strategy and forms part of the government’s wider AI regulation and growth initiative, which empowers regulators to test and implement new rules through AI sandboxes built within the AI Growth Lab.
According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the AI Growth Lab and its associated policies will help speed up planning approvals, cut NHS waiting times and enhance decision-making across the public sector. It aims to equip regulators with clear mandates to apply five guiding principles: safety, transparency, fairness, accountability and contestability.
“To deliver national renewal, we need to overhaul the old approaches which have stifled enterprise and held back our innovators,” Kendall said, announcing the plan during the Times Tech Summit. “We want to remove the needless red tape that slows progress so we can drive growth and modernise the public services people rely on every day.”
A flexible, pro-innovation model
The plan immediately gives UK companies the opportunity to collaborate directly with regulators in sandbox environments, where businesses can test new AI systems against real regulatory conditions without the risk of penalties or market disruption.
Operated under the AI Growth Lab, these sandboxes will pair firms with regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Ofcom and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to identify potential compliance gaps and refine best practices before deployment.
The Lab will act as a central resource hub, offering data-sharing support, legal guidance and technical expertise to help businesses turn pilot projects into scalable, compliant products. This means firms can validate models and processes more efficiently and avoid costly compliance errors down the road.
The government has committed new funding and technical assistance to help businesses and regulators prepare for implementation of the AI blueprint. The investment will enable the expansion of AI sandboxes across multiple sectors and promote joint regulator-industry training programmes to strengthen oversight and adoption.
The new initiative also supports cross-sector collaboration, allowing companies working in the finance, construction and healthcare sectors to use AI sandboxes to trial automation, planning or analytics tools that require regulator approval.
“We welcome the launch of the AI Growth Lab, which represents a strong, positive step towards a pro-growth regulatory approach that will help companies to safely develop, scale and deploy AI in key sectors of the UK economy,” says Anthony Walker, deputy CEO at TechUK, a technology trade association. “If we get this right, the AI Growth Lab can add real value by drawing on learnings from existing AI sandboxes and working closely with AI businesses to deliver tangible results and real-world impact.”
The UK’s approach builds on a growing movement toward sandbox testing. Similar models have been launched in the US, EU, Estonia and Singapore to accelerate safe deployment of AI systems.
Driving AI transformation
According to DSIT figures cited in the government’s announcement, the UK’s AI sector already contributes more than £10bn to the economy and supports more than 50,000 jobs. Officials expect those numbers to rise sharply as regulatory clarity reduces uncertainty for investors and opens opportunities for internal collaboration.
The AI Growth Lab will be overseen by a cadre of tech and regulatory experts and backed by what the government calls a “strict licensing scheme with strong safeguards” designed to penalise breaches of individual agreements or the introduction of unacceptable risks.
The government will now move ahead with a public call for views on the AI Growth Lab’s long-term structure, including whether it should remain under direct government management or transition to regulator-led oversight. This consultation phase will define how future sandboxes operate and how effectively they can support industries adopting AI at scale.
The government is moving to put its AI plan into action with the launch of the AI Growth Lab, a key initiative designed to strengthen public trust, drive innovation and unlock growth across critical sectors, including health, construction and finance.
The framework, championed by the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, builds on the foundations of the 2021 National AI Strategy and forms part of the government’s wider AI regulation and growth initiative, which empowers regulators to test and implement new rules through AI sandboxes built within the AI Growth Lab.
According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the AI Growth Lab and its associated policies will help speed up planning approvals, cut NHS waiting times and enhance decision-making across the public sector. It aims to equip regulators with clear mandates to apply five guiding principles: safety, transparency, fairness, accountability and contestability.
