Discussions are taking place at Westminster and across UK industry about where the UK should play a role in the global AI race. Too often we get stuck asking the wrong questions.
The default framework is about sovereignty.
Can you build your own large-scale language models? Can you compete on computing infrastructure? Can you match the billions of dollars that American and Chinese technology companies are deploying?
The honest answer is probably not, and that’s okay.
Adoption is a real battlefield
The UK’s advantage has never been in building the biggest platform. It has been adopted, adapted and commercially applied.
We saw it on the internet. I saw it on my cell phone. We saw it in fintech.
British businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, have a strong track record of adopting new technology and finding practical commercial applications for it faster than most other businesses.
AI is no exception.
According to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2025, the UK has added more new unicorn companies this year than France and Germany combined.
Over the past three years, thousands of native AI businesses have launched across the United States. They’re not trying to build the next frontier model. These can help businesses understand what AI can do, where it fits, and how to get started.
That’s where the real economic value lies.
Not in the model. Under development.
Fear is reducing productivity
Britain has had productivity problems for more than a decade. AI is the most powerful tool available to address this problem.
But fears about unemployment, deepfakes, energy consumption, and ethical risks continue to dominate public discourse.
Such concerns are natural. They deserve some serious attention.
But when fear dominates the conversation, it crowds out everything else. It causes paralysis.
And in an environment where technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, paralysis is not a neutral position.
Standing still means falling behind.
Companies that have adopted AI are already seeing results.
They are uncovering revenue they didn’t realize they were leaving on the table. They are relieving the elderly from repetitive tasks. They identify churn signals before customers leave.
None of these require cutting-edge research.
You must be willing to examine your data and act on what you discover.
This is not a project. It’s a permanent shift
One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is treating AI as a transformation program with a start and end date.
it’s not.
AI will bring lasting changes to the way we work, make decisions, and create value.
Every previous wave of technology, from the internet to smartphones, has reshaped industries.
However, AI differs in scale and speed.
Some of the most trusted voices in the field predict that the next decade will see 100 times more change than in the past.
It’s not a character created to scare people. It’s a reason to move.
The UK has the entrepreneurial culture, financial services expertise, legal infrastructure and commercial instincts to lead the world in AI adoption.
What is needed is a national effort to help all businesses, from corner shops to the FTSE 250, understand where to start and how to continue.
The countries that win in the AI era will not necessarily be the ones that build the biggest models.
They will be the fastest to leverage intelligence at every level of the economy and across the widest range of businesses.
Britain has done this before.
The question is whether to do the same thing again before the window closes.
