Tim Flagg
CEO of UKAIUKAI is the trade association for UK AI businesses
The Government’s newly formed AI Energy Council represents the acknowledgment of the intertwined future of AI and energy infrastructure. While UKAI welcomes this initiative, it is three months since the AI Opportunities Action Plan. We must be crystal clear: Britain stands at a pivotal crossroads where hesitation or half-measures will relegate our AI ambitions to mere wishful thinking.
The brutal reality of the UK’s energy disadvantage
UK energy prices are triple those in the United States. This isn’t a minor inconvenience, it’s a crippling competitive disadvantage that threatens to suffocate our AI industry before it can truly flourish. When global tech businesses and investors choose countries with cheaper energy, this price disparity will put Britain immediately on the back foot.
Every day this imbalance persists, investment opportunities are lost. High-skilled jobs go elsewhere. Our technological sovereignty is eroded. This issue should be top of the agenda for the AI Energy Council, it must be addressed urgently.
More than talk: Immediate action required
The first meeting of the Council, co-chaired by Technology Secretary Peter Kyle and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, established five focus areas and a quarterly meeting schedule. But quarterly meetings won’t match the pace of global AI development. Whatโs happening in the meantime? We need weekly actions, not quarterly discussions.
In yesterday’s announcement, the Government highlighted how over 200 local areas have applied to become AI Growth Zones. These zones require access to at least 500MW of power each, enough to power two million homes. Where will this energy come from, and how quickly? The enthusiasm is commendable, but enthusiasm alone doesn’t generate megawatts.
British innovation: The solution lies within
The Council should help to shift the perception of AI merely as a problem of consumption to highlighting that AI holds the key to many of the solutions. UKAI companies are already pioneering technologies that could position Britain as a world leader in AI energy innovation.
- AI-powered grid optimisation could save gigawatts without building a single new power plant
- Machine learning algorithms can predict and manage energy demand with unprecedented precision
- Heat recovery systems that capture and repurpose waste energy from modular data centres to heat residential and office buildings
- Distributed computing models that spread compute across smaller modular data centres
The AI Energy Council must prioritise scaling these homegrown innovations immediately, and not simply study them. Britain once had the ambition to lead the world in renewables, now we should aim to be a world leader in AI Energy innovation.
AI can be the fundamental enabler of a smart, efficient energy future. The world needs these solutions, and the UK possesses all of the right ingredients to lead.
The path forward
UKAI stands ready to support the AI Energy Council, but we call for an approach that matches the urgency of the situation.
- Fast-track planning approvals for energy infrastructure supporting AI development
- Create tax incentives specifically for energy-efficient AI compute
- Establish a national AI energy innovation fund to scale British solutions
- Set concrete targets for reducing the energy price gap with competing nations
- Implement an emergency plan to secure adequate power for AI Growth Zones within months, not years
The formation of the AI Energy Council is a step in the right direction, but piecemeal steps won’t get us where we need to go. We need giant leaps. Britain has the talent, the innovation, and the ambition to lead the world in AI, what we need now is the power to make it happen.
Every week since 20th January the global market has become more competitive. The time for polite discussions is over. The time for bold action is now if we want the UK to remain a global AI leader.