UK needs culture shift to become AI superpower - DeepMind co-founder

The co-founder of starring AI steadfast DeepMind, which started arsenic a UK institution and was sold to Google, says the UK should promote much hazard taking if it wants to go an AI superpower.

Mustafa Suleyman added that helium does not regret selling DeepMind to the US elephantine successful 2014.

"The US marketplace is not lone huge, but besides much predisposed to taking large shots," helium told the BBC.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants the UK to beryllium a planetary hub for AI.

He has pledged £1bn successful backing implicit the adjacent 10 years, and founded a UK taskforce with a remit of maximising the benefits of the tech portion keeping it safe.

This week BBC News is focusing connected AI, however the exertion affects our lives and what impacts it whitethorn person successful the adjacent future.

Mr Suleyman said the UK had "every chance" of becoming an AI superpower and praised its probe facilities, but added determination were not the aforesaid opportunities for businesses to turn arsenic determination are successful the US.

"I deliberation the civilization displacement that it needs to marque is to beryllium much encouraging of ample standard investments, much encouraging of hazard taking, and much tolerant and much celebratory of failures," helium said.

"The information is, the US marketplace is not lone huge, but besides much predisposed to large hazard taking, taking large shots and having large backing rounds."

Mr Suleyman has chosen to basal his caller company, Inflection AI, successful Palo Alto, California, which is besides location to the office of Google, Facebook and Tesla.

DeepMind is often held up arsenic 1 of the astir palmy AI companies to beryllium grown successful the UK.

It was sold to Google successful 2014, for a reported $400m. The terms paid was not made public.

An earlier DeepMind merchandise called AlphaGo bushed the apical quality subordinate of the Chinese strategy crippled Go, Lee Se-dol, 4-1 successful a tourney held successful 2016.

It was considered astatine the clip to beryllium a large breakthrough for artificial intelligence.

Mustafa Suleyman's views correspond 1 of the challenges facing Ian Hogarth, a British entrepreneur and capitalist who has been appointed to pb the UK's AI taskforce.

He took up the presumption 5 weeks ago.

In his archetypal interrogation since getting the job, Mr Hogarth told the BBC that portion the UK was a bully spot for start-ups, it should besides beryllium easier for them to grow.

"We've had immoderate large [tech] companies and immoderate of them got bought early, you cognize - Skype got bought by eBay, DeepMind got bought by Google.

"I deliberation truly our ecosystem needs to emergence to the adjacent level of the challenge."

This week BBC News is focussing connected AI, however the exertion affects our lives and what impacts it whitethorn person successful the adjacent future.

It's a presumption I perceive often from tiny tech firms - they purpose to beryllium bought up by a US tech giant, alternatively than go a elephantine themselves.

Emma McClenaghan and her spouse Matt tally an award-winning AI start-up successful Northern Ireland but they conflict to entree the infrastructure they request to beforehand their product.

The week Emma contacted me, she said Twitter proprietor Elon Musk had purchased 10,000 specialised chips called GPUs, needed to physique and bid AI tools - and she had been waiting 5 months for a assistance to bargain one.

"That's the quality betwixt america and them due to the fact that it's going to instrumentality us, you know, 4 to 7 days to bid a exemplary and if he's [able to] bash it successful minutes, past you know, we're ne'er going to drawback up," she said.

Ian Hogarth thinks possibly a aboriginal solution is for countries, alternatively than companies, to ain this infrastructure.

"It is going to beryllium a cardinal gathering artifact for the adjacent procreation of innovation," helium said.

Follow Zoe Kleinman connected Twitter @zsk