"Peter Kyle, until two weeks ago the technology secretary, once warned that tech companies such as Meta, Google and Microsoft were so powerful that the UK needed to approach them with a sense of statecraft and humility, and treat negotiations with them similarly to diplomacy between nations. That vision endures in the form of the UK-US tech prosperity agreement struck this week."
"The rationale is clear: US firms stand alone atop the global AI value chain, making the country an obvious partner for a UK government seeking to turbocharge its AI sector. Against a challenging economic backdrop, the promise of a combined 31bn in support for UK AI infrastructure such as datacentres offers welcome headlines. The potential challenges are nonetheless also pronounced. We know that the public harbours concerns about the motivation of these companies and their increasing entanglement with the British state."
The UK-US tech prosperity agreement primarily aims to attract US technology investment into UK AI infrastructure, notably datacentres, backed by a combined 31bn in support. US firms dominate the global AI value chain, making the United States a strategic partner for accelerating the UK AI sector. Local communities may face trade-offs as datacentre developments have previously driven higher energy bills, strained water supplies, and generated relatively few jobs. Existing plans have prompted local opposition and legal challenges. Government must provide clear assurances about energy, water, grid usage and tangible local benefits tied to private investment.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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