The United Kingdom has announced a substantial increase in funding, allocating £300 million ($363.57 million) for the development of two artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers, known as the “AI Research Resource.” This investment is aimed at supporting research endeavors focused on enhancing the safety of advanced AI models, which was the central theme of the recently concluded global AI Safety Summit.
In a statement, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasized that as cutting-edge AI models become increasingly powerful, this financial commitment will empower British scientific talent with the necessary tools to ensure the safety of the most advanced AI models.
The introduction of these two supercomputers will provide U.K. researchers with more than 30 times the computational capacity of the country’s existing largest public AI computing resources. These advanced computing systems are expected to be fully operational by the summer of 2024.
This development also heralds the creation of the Isambard-AI, the U.K.’s fastest computer, designed in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and equipped with 5,000 advanced Nvidia AI chips. The second supercomputer, named “Dawn,” is a project in partnership with Dell and is powered by 1,000 AI chips from Intel. Notably, the U.K. had previously invested $130 million in AI chips in August.
According to the U.K.’s official announcement, the Isambard-AI supercomputer will be capable of performing over 200 quadrillion calculations per second, equivalent to 200 petaflops.
The global AI Safety Summit’s first day saw the participation of United States Vice President Kamala Harris, during which both Harris and Sunak emphasized the importance of close collaboration to address the opportunities and risks presented by frontier AI.
In her address, Harris raised concerns about potential cyberattacks on an unprecedented scale and the development of AI-generated bioweapons that could pose a significant threat to millions of lives. She stressed the urgency of collective action to address these critical issues.
These remarks from the U.S. vice president came shortly after the Biden administration issued an executive order outlining its plans for implementing AI safety standards.
