(Yicai Global) Nov. 18 -- The UK unveiled its ambitious national artificial intelligence strategy in September.

The strategy, which follows government investment of more than GBP2.3 billion (USD3.2 billion) since 2014, projects a 10-year vision to turn the country into a haven for AI, with clear rules, ethical principles, and pro-innovation regulation, The Yuan, an open forum dedicated to making AI ‘All-Inclusive,’ reported on November 17.

Plans are also afoot to launch a program to bolster research and development and AI governance to instill confidence in its use, and help every region and sector capitalize on it to secure AI primacy, per The Yuan report.

“AI technologies have the capacity to fundamentally transform many aspects of the way we live and work” said UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, adding, “The UK is already a world leader in certain aspects of AI -- and this strategy helps to define how to enhance those capabilities further to ensure that the UK can both develop and use AI for the benefit of citizens.”

The UK’s quasi-governmental Research and Innovation named its first five Turing Artificial Intelligence World-Leading Researcher Fellows last November as part of a GBP46 million (USD63 million) push to lure top talent in the field.

“AI technologies are already improving lives, and their prominence continues to grow in our society, said Alan Turing Institute Chief Executive Prof Sir Adrian Smith. “To ensure they go from strength-to-strength, it’s critical we foster a sustainable, inclusive, multidisciplinary UK AI ecosystem…” Smith continued.

AI+Healthcare

The UK is splurging to foster AI in every sector, and healthcare, one of the most promising for its adoption, is no exception.

Of the GBP2.3 billion the government lavished on AI in recent years, GBP250 million (USD342 million) went to form the NHSX AI Lab, which will flag healthcare issues able to benefit most from practical AI applications, but not yet supported by them, and test technologies and algorithms the National Health Service uses to ensure they are compliant.

To enable innovators’ wares to hit the market quickly but without compromising safety, the framework will also prototype ideas and use AI in early disease detection, per the ‘Artificial Intelligence: How to get it right’ report published in October 2019.

The lab also bestows The Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award, with GBP140 million (USD191 million) available to speed testing of technologies, with 80 awards given thus far.

Data Deluge

The Accelerating Detection of Disease program, a GBP240 million (USD328 million) initiative to enlist 5 million volunteers to develop new diagnostic tools, will fast-track research for early diagnosis and intervention. NHSX is further creating the National AI Medical Imaging Platform to provide masses of medical data from the national population, giving developers high-quality information needed to develop AI products.

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology flagged several areas with the potential for AI incorporation, among them interpretation of medical imaging, planning patient treatments, and voice assistants, smartphone apps, and wearables -- the very applications in which to expect exciting near-term findings.

Editor: Kim Taylor

Yicai Global is pleased to announce its cooperation with The Yuan (https://www.the-yuan.com) and looks forward to future feature articles from it authored by luminaries of the ilk of Hippo.AI founder Bart de Witte and the many other leading lights in the AI sector who are its regular contributors. The Yuan provides an open community with the aim of averting the emergence of bias and social inequities and inequalities arising from uneven access to AI and, as such, its philosophy closely aligns with Yicai Global’s own stance.