Britain Wants AI Sovereignty. So Why Does It Buy American Tech?
If the UK is serious about tech sovereignty, it needs to put its money where its mouth is.
Photograph: Fredex8/iStockphoto/Getty Images
The UK government has said the words “sovereign AI” more times in the past year than probably any other administration in the world. Last month, technology minister Liz Kendall said Britain “must be an AI maker, not just an AI taker.” It’s a nice rhyme, but procurement contracts show a very different reality.
From healthcare to justice, agencies within the British government have been signing deals for artificial-intelligence tools made almost entirely by American labs. The new gov.uk chatbot, which will help people update a driver’s license or get regulatory advice on starting a business, is set to be powered by Anthropic PBC’s Claude. The Ministry of Defence recently signed a £240 million ($324 million) contract with Palantir Technologies Inc. to supply AI software for military targeting and analysis.