UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Statistics and Trends for 2024 – Forbes Advisor UK

The rapidly growing field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize our lives.

Apple is the latest major tech company to announce a deeper involvement in the space, indicating a partnership with provider OpenAI that will see ChatGPT features integrated into Apple's operating system in the second half of 2024.

The move is aimed at improving the performance of the Siri voice assistant and making it easier to generate text and other content.

AI is already being used in everything from self-driving cars to medical diagnostic tools, and we look at how the adoption of the technology is bringing change to the UK.

The growth and adoption of AI in the UK

• According to the Department for International Trade, the UK's AI market is worth over £16.8 billion and is expected to grow to £801.6 billion by 2035.¹
• The number of AI companies in the UK has increased by more than 600% over the past decade.²
• According to government research, around one in six UK organisations – a total of 432,000 – have implemented at least one AI technology.³
• 68% of large businesses, 33% of mid-sized businesses, and 15% of small businesses have implemented at least one AI technology.^Four
• Marks & Spencer reported an 80% reduction in accidents in its warehouse after a 10-week trial of computer vision technology.^Five
• Government Data^Four The most commonly adopted AI solutions in the UK focus on:

– Data Management and Analytics (9%)

– Natural Language Processing and Generation (8%)

– Machine Learning (7%)

– AI hardware (5%)

– Computer Vision and Image Processing and Generation (5%).

• The IT & Communications sector has the highest AI adoption rate at 29.5%, followed by the legal sector at 29.2%. The hospitality, health & retail sector has the lowest adoption rate at around 11.5%.

Impact on economy and employment

• The UK has an AI workforce of over 360,000 people.⁶
• AI contributed £3.7 billion to the economy in 2022.⁷
• The UK has twice as many AI-based companies as any other European country.⁷
• The UK health and social care sector is predicted to see the greatest net job growth due to AI over the next 20 years.⁸
• Of the UK's major regions, Greater London leads the way for AI-focused companies, with 1,387 AI companies based there as of June 2023.⁹
• London serves as a major hub for UK AI startups, and is home to companies such as DeepMind, Adbrain and BenevolentAI, as well as prominent machine learning research groups at UCL, King's College and Imperial College.

• Job ads across all fields that mention AI have salaries 20% higher than those that don’t mention AI.

• The government estimates that around 7% of existing UK jobs could be lost over the next five years, rising to around 18% after 10 years and almost 30% after 20 years – the equivalent of around 2.2 million jobs.⁸

AI Language Model

• A Forbes Advisor poll found that 85% of Brits are aware of AI language models such as Chat GPT, Google Bard and Bing Chat.
• Since its introduction in November 2022, eight of the 24 Russell Group universities have formally banned the use of ChatGPT and other AI language models.

Self-driving cars

• Self-driving cars are expected to be on UK roads by 2025, with £100 million worth of government funding earmarked to achieve this goal so far.
• A Forbes Advisor survey found that 85% of respondents have doubts about AI technology in cars.

AI Research and Development

• The UK Government was ranked third in the 2023 Global AI Readiness Index and first in Western Europe. ^Ten
• Since 2014, the government has allocated more than £2.3 billion to a range of artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives.¹¹
• In the spring 2023 budget, the UK government decided to inject approximately £1 billion in government funding into AI research.¹²
• The UK plans to invest £900 million in cutting-edge supercomputers as part of its artificial intelligence strategy, which includes ensuring the building of its own “BritGPT”.¹³

Trends, Outlook and Concerns

• A Forbes Advisor survey found that 59% of Brits are concerned about the use of artificial intelligence.
• The main concerns are:

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source:

Forbes Advisor's primary data was taken from a representative sample of 2,000 adults in the UK. The survey was commissioned by Forbes Advisor and conducted by market research company Opinium. Data was collected in May 2023.

1. https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/united-kingdom-artificial-intelligence-market-2023
2. https://www.great.gov.uk/campaign-site/uk-na-innovation/sectors/artificial-intelligence/
3. https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/itandinternetindustry/articles/ Understandingaiuptakeandsentimentamongpeopleandbusinessesintheuk/june2023
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-activity-in-uk-businesses/ai-activity-in-uk-businesses-executive-summary
5. https://www.protex.ai/post/marks-and-spencer-reduced-incidents-by-80-in-their-first-10-weeks-of-deployment#:~:text=This moment led to an incident across the warehouse floor
6. https://thedatacity.com/rtics/artificial-intelligence-rtic0004/
7. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-unveils-world-leading-approach-to-innovation-in-first-artificial-intelligence-white-paper-to-turbocharge-growth
8. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1023590/impact-of-ai-on-jobs.pdf
9. https://thedatacity.com/blog/the-uks-top-artificial-intelligence-ai-hotspots/
10. https://oxfordinsights.com/ai-readiness/ai-readiness-index/
11. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-ai-strategy/national-ai-strategy-html-version
12. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-commits-up-to-35-billion-to-future-of-tech-and-science
13. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/15/uk-to-invest-900m-in-supercomputer-in-bid-to-build-own-britgpt