The AI Opportunity for Britain

This is an op-ed I wrote for The Times, published on May 10th 2026

Almost every conversation about artificial intelligence in this country starts in the wrong place. Before anyone mentions the improvements in healthcare we’ve seen, the businesses it is creating, or the public services it could transform, we start from a negative. Jobs apocalypse, data theft, national security — these are the themes dominating the headlines.

Polling by James Kanagasooriam at Focal Data suggested last year that only 13 per cent of Britons wanted to “pause AI” development. Yet anxious lobbying groups and political opportunists are managing to lead the national conversation, trying to push that number up.

I have felt it. After the recent launch of SovAI, the government’s sovereign AI fund, my team has been harassed by humans and, ironically, automated bots who argue Britain should not be building AI companies at all.

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I am not crying foul play — it’s an important national debate that must be had. And the AI industry has done a terrible job of selling itself to the public. Some of the industry’s most famous faces, who clearly understand more about machine learning than they do economics, have discussed the possibility of enormous job losses and existential threats. But we must be crystal clear just how much of our national wealth and security is at risk if we let an AI “doomer” movement succeed.

So how does AI go right for Britain?

First, jobs. Every wave of technology has followed a similar pattern. The spreadsheet and calculator didn’t kill accountancy. It brought better financial management within reach of more small businesseses. The internet made some categories of work redundant (we all miss the Encyclopaedia Britannica salesperson) but created millions of jobs that hadn’t previously existed. Those who master AI tools today will have even greater opportunities.

This is particularly true for the young and ambitious. Starting a shop in the 1990s was prohibitively expensive. Today, starting one online is free, and impressively, millions of young Britons have done so on a digital platform, such as Depop, Vinted, eBay or Etsy. Imagine what that generation will do with AI agents that can help them write code, build business models and design products.

And what about the wider economy?

Financial services, the industry Britain built into a global force after the 1986 “Big Bang”, contribute more than £110 billion a year in taxes.

AI, done right, will build a sector of at least comparable scale. Government analysis projects that successful AI adoption will boost GDP by over £230 billion by 2030. The tax revenues from an industry of that size would close Britain’s entire national deficit. The argument over what to do with that money — better hospitals, debt reduction, lower taxes, stronger defence — should be fierce. But imagine the luxury of such a debate.

In the first quarter of this year alone, AI companies based here raised £6 billion — more than the rest of continental Europe combined. Every big AI lab has opened or expanded offices here in the past two years. With the launch of the sovereign AI fund, we hope to encourage more of these global winners to stay here, contributing to the UK’s economy and security.

AI’s role in our national security is only growing. As Liz Kendall, the secretary of state for technology, said last week, the choice is not between a world with AI and one without, but between shaping our AI future or being left at its mercy. Countries that build AI industries now will have a seat at the table when the rules are written. Those that don’t will have none.

Being at that table will require trade-offs. Businesses are queueing up to invest in the energy infrastructure that new data centres need to develop AI models here, on UK soil. We must find a way to make that work. And our domestic capital investors must take risks again. If our pension industry had backed British venture firms in the software era like their Canadian counterparts did, the average British saver would be £6,000 better off today. They didn’t. If we want the public to accept these trade-offs, we must deliver these kinds of benefits.

The good news is that government recognises the opportunity to expand our AI sovereignty.

But the challenge goes deeper than just policy. At the heart of this debate — on jobs, national security and wealth — sits a much bigger question. Do we dare to be the home of global ambition once again?

From the steam engine to DeepMind, British ingenuity has powered global progress. We have a legacy worth celebrating. To be insular and modest in our AI ambitions, as some political leaders and lobby groups suggest, would betray not just future generations but our glorious scientific and commercial heritage.

If we want this time to be different, we need to act differently. We simply cannot afford to give this opportunity away.

James Wise is chairman of Sovereign AI, and partner at Balderton Capital