Independent report

Recommendations of the review

Published 15 October 2017

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Recommendations to improve access to data

  1. To facilitate the sharing of data between organisations holding data and organisations looking to use data to develop AI, Government and industry should deliver a programme to develop Data Trusts – proven and trusted frameworks and agreements – to ensure exchanges are secure and mutually beneficial.

  2. To improve the availability of data for developing AI systems, Government should ensure that public funding for research explicitly ensures publication of underlying data in machine-readable formats with clear rights information, and open wherever possible.

  3. To support text and data mining as a standard and essential tool for research, the UK should move towards establishing by default that for published research the right to read is also the right to mine data, where that does not result in products that substitute for the original works. Government should include potential uses of data for AI when assessing how to support for text and data mining.

Recommendations to improve supply of skills

  1. Government, industry and academia must embrace the value and importance of a diverse workforce for AI, and should work together to develop public information aimed at breaking down stereotypes and broadening participation.

  2. Industry should sponsor a major programme of students to pursue Masters level courses in AI, with an initial cohort of 300 students.

  3. Universities should explore with employers and students the potential demand for one-year conversion Masters degrees in AI for graduates in subjects other than computing and data science.

  4. Government and universities should create, at a minimum, an additional 200 PhD places dedicated to AI at leading universities. As the UK trains and attracts additional academic talent, this number should grow continually year on year.

  5. Universities should encourage the development of advanced credit-bearing AI MOOCs and online Continuing Professional Development courses leading to MScs for people with STEM qualifications to gain more specialist knowledge.

  6. An International fellowship programme for AI in the UK should be created in partnership with the Alan Turing Institute: the Turing AI Fellowships. This should be supported by a targeted fund for identifying and recruiting the best talent, and by ensuring that the UK is open to any and all of the eligible experts from around the world.

Recommendations to maximise UK AI research

  1. The Alan Turing Institute should become the national institute for artificial intelligence and data science, becoming truly national and no longer limited to five universities, and including a key stated aim that centres its mission on artificial intelligence.

  2. Universities should use clear, accessible and where possible common policies and practices for licensing IP and forming spin-out companies.

  3. The Alan Turing Institute, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) should work together to coordinate demand for computing capacity for AI research, and negotiate for the UK research community.

Recommendations to support uptake of AI

  1. Government should work with industry and experts to establish a UK AI Council to help coordinate and grow AI in the UK.

  2. The Information Commissioner’s Office and the Alan Turing Institute should develop a framework for explaining processes, services and decisions delivered by AI, to improve transparency and accountability.

  3. The Department for International Trade should expand its current support programme for AI businesses.

  4. TechUK should work with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Digital Catapult, and key players in industry sectors, to develop practical guidance on the opportunities and challenges of successful adoption of AI across the UK economy.

  5. Government, drawing on the expertise of the Government Digital Service, the Data Science Partnership and experts working with data in other Departments, should develop a programme of actions to prepare the public sector and spread best practice for applying AI to improve operations and services for citizens.

  6. Government should ensure that challenges addressed by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) and Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) are designed to attract and support applications of AI across the full range of challenge areas and set funded challenges which use public sector data for AI.

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