Bristol can play a led role in ensuring the UK is a world leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) through harnessing its innovation, talent and the spirit of Brunel, according to the West of England’s metro mayor.
By making the city and the wider region an official UK AI Growth Zone, Mayor Dan Norris says it will also secure further investment in the rapid-growth sector from around the world. 
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer outlined the government’s new national plan for AI this week, with the University of Bristol highlighted as one of three “pockets of deep academic expertise” in the sector, along with Edinburgh and Cambridge universities.
Bristol already boasts phase one of the groundbreaking, £225m Isambard-AI supercomputer, pictured – which went live last May as the UK’s fastest and most-powerful.
Based in the National Composites Centre on the Bristol & Bath Science Park at Emersons Green, it can complete 200 quadrillion calculations per second.
UK researchers and small-to-medium-sized businesses will be able to begin accessing Isambard-AI later this year, according to the government – opening up huge opportunities for innovation in areas such as software and wider high-performance computing capabilities, raising skill levels and helping drive economic growth.
This first AI Growth Zones will be established by the government this summer, creating areas where private sector investment and close government-industry collaboration will be encouraged. 
Planning approvals for next-generation data centres capable of speeding up innovation will be expedited in the zones.
According to the government, these zones will also “have the potential to grow the AI sector to support AI adoption across the economy and enable the government to build new strategic partnerships with leading AI players”.
In addition, they will have “the potential to deliver local benefits, including job creation, enhanced digital and energy infrastructure and sustainability initiatives”.
Mayor Norris, pictured, who leads the West of England Combined Authority and is also Labour MP for North East Somerset and Hanham, said the government’s blueprint would unleash AI to turbocharge growth and boost living standards – and the West of England was already at the forefront of the revolution.
“Pioneering research and innovation in our region are driving forward this exciting area of real opportunity,” he added.
“My mayoral combined authority is backing the government’s ambitious agenda, with the right safeguards where we need them.
“Our regional growth plan has innovation and the spirit of Brunel at its heart – the UK’s most powerful supercomputer named after him is already operating here.
“The West of England can look forward to soon being a national AI Growth Zone, to continue to attract new investment and new jobs.”
Mayor Norris said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that AI could boost productivity by up to 1.5 percentage points a year. That could be worth an average of £47bn a year to the UK economy or a decade.
Launching the new AI strategy, the Prime Minister said: “Artificial Intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. From teachers personalising lessons, to supporting small businesses with their record-keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people.
“But the AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.
“Our plan will make Britain the world leader. It will give the industry the foundation it needs and will turbocharge the Plan for Change. That means more jobs and investment in the UK, more money in people’s pockets, and transformed public services.”
