UK critical infrastructure under threat by foreign-owned AI, expert says

The UK may need its own large language model (LLM) for “sovereignty reasons” and to protect UK’s critical infrastructure from geopolitical tensions, an expert has said.

Large language models, like ChatGPT, are a type of AI that can understand and generate human language by analyzing large troves of data.

Speaking at Holyrood’s annual public sector digital transformation event, Michael Rovatsos, professor of artificial intelligence (AI) at the University of Edinburgh, called for “international collaboration” to keep pace with models being developed by commercial players.

Raising concerns about the pace of development, he said: “We might always lag behind.

“Even the first version of ChatGPT cost £100m just to train.”

Last year, the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee called for the UK Government to explore a “sovereign LLM capability”. However, the idea was shut down by ministers, who said it was “not suitable” and potentially feasible, given the market for LLM tools was “immature” and “evolving very rapidly”.

Rovatsos spoke as part of a panel on the opportunities and limitation of AI, with a focus on its use to power public sector reform.

In his address to the conference, public finance minister Ivan McKee recognised the power of AI to improve public services, citing its use in the early detection of breast cancer, yet warned delegates not to buy into the hype.

He said: “You've got to look at it as being a tool in the toolkit and as with all digital technology it's not a panacea, it doesn't fix everything.”

McKee insisted that public trust was a “critical cornerstone” to ensure the successful adoption of AI across public services: “We're committed to bringing people with us on this exciting journey to ensure that AI benefits the many and not just the few.”

He added: “One of the first minister's core priorities in government is ensuring that we deliver high-quality public services, and the reform of Scotland's public services is key to that mission and that follows within my reign as minister for public finance. AI is a key enabler of public service reform that needs to be taken forward with a higher level of integration that is currently in place across the Scottish public sector.”

Earlier this year, First Minister John Swinney announced the creation of centres of excellence to “capitalise on the technological innovation and the potential” of artificial intelligence, as part of his plans to create “smarter and better” care.