AI in the UK

AISI v OpenAI: Who's Right on Astra Safety? + The Future of Work Returns

On this week's pod, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: OpenAI claims Astra is its best-aligned model but the AISI says the frontier model carried out attacks in 29% of its tests. So who's right? The UK's AI minister has raised the alarm on potential AI-driven job losses. Is he right? And if he is, what should we do? Plus all this week's latest UK AI news...

AI Agents Come to Financial Services – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

On this week's pod, Niels Footman and Matt Wilkinson discuss: A UK-based payment platform demos its first, heavily supervised agentic live payment. Meanwhile, in Cambridge, regulators competed to create anti-scam agents of their own. Is financial services remotely ready for this? Proposals for AI regulation are coming thick and fast in the UK. But if we can't get access to the frontier models, how meaningful can the rules be? Plus the latest AI news from across the UK...

Matt Wilkinson on Marketing Personas For the AI Age

In a break from the regular schedule, Niels Footman grills co-host Matt Wilkinson about his new book, The Buyer in the Loop. Matt discusses how buyer personas, which could traditionally only offer a snapshot in time, are made into dynamic, responsive personalities with the infusion of AI. How do they work? Do they really improve sales results? And, as elsewhere, are we in danger of offloading our marketing thinking to AI tools? Matt answers all these questions and more. Plus the usual round-up of the week's UK AI stories in Quick Hits.

UK's AI Procurement Push as More Agents Go Rogue

This week, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: The UK government gets serious about domestic AI procurement, just as one of UK AI’s leading lights gets poached by Anthropic. What does this mean for UK AI? While a leading UK think tank notes an increasing loss of control of AI agents, OpenAI reportedly makes it harder to track what AI agents are doing. Just what is going on? Plus all the week's quick UK AI hits...

Agentic Threats, Cyber Security Warnings and – Yes! – More Data Centres

This week, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: Hot on the heels of OpenAI, Anthropic and the AISI, among others, reporting rogue agents, the National Cyber Security Centre has rushed out safety guidance for UK companies looking to use AI agents. Is now the time to get really worried? Developers in the UK are planning to build their own gas-fired generators to power two huge data centres. Could this be the real environmental cost of the rush to build out our data infrastructure? Plus all the latest quick hits for the week...

Data Centres Boom – Is the UK Ready?

This week, Niels Footman and Matt Wilkinson discuss: Some of the UK's biggest data centres are taking shape in Scotland with the government providing 80% debt guarantees. Do the sums, and environmental concerns, add up? The Medical Research Council has announced a new AI-backed research facility in Cambridge that promises to help speed up the drug validation process. But the big prizes may have already slipped away. Plus all the week's other UK AI news...

Hassabis Steps Back - What Now For UK AI?

On this week's show, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: In a major shake-up, DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis has stepped back from his CEO role at Google DeepMind to become Google's chief scientist. What's really powered this move? And what does it mean for London's fabled "Knowledge Quarter"? Armed with a potentially disruptive technology - but not, yet, any products - UK startup Olix has raised £230m in its latest funding round. What chance does this promising AI chip company have?

AISI Agents Go Rogue + UK AI Upstart Raids Silicon Valley

This week, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: Hot on the heels of OpenAI and Anthropic revealing major security breaches by their agents, the UK’s AI Security Institute announced a rogue agent of its own. How concerned should we be? NScale, the UK’s aspiring data centre champion, has raided Silicon Valley to acquire a machine-learning software platform. Will it create a full-stack AI behemoth?

Burnham's Big AI Moves + Cambridge AI Startup Hits £2bn Valuation

In moves that have both confounded and delighted the tech industry, Andy Burnham has made the AI minister a Cabinet role (and kept Kanishka Narayan in place) while abolishing the department tasked with driving the government's AI policies. Just what is going on? And CuspAI, an AI-powered "search engine for materials", has landed a £334m series B funding round. A ringing endorsement of the UK's push towards "applied AI"? Or an inflated bet on an untested business model? Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss these issues and the other big stories in UK AI this week...

The Future of UK Law in the Age of AI

This week, Matt and Niels talk to Chris Jeyes, a criminal barrister of more than 20 years standing and now the founder of Lextrapolate, an AI training, governance and strategy consultancy for the legal profession. We discuss: - How AI is changing the legal landscape already - Why lawyers keep using "hallucinated" research - How aspiring lawyers can learn the ropes in the age of AI - How a business built on the billable hour is preparing for the future

Investment Soars, Adoption Plods — Is Mandatory Training the Answer?

On this week's show, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: UK tech investment enjoyed its strongest start to the year for four years, with AI accounting for nearly three-quarters of VC funding. How can the UK sustain this level of success? As Rachel Reeves pushes the financial sector to make AI training mandatory, we ask: why is there such a big gap between the UK’s cutting-edge AI development and enterprise adoption?

UK's AI War Machine + How Much Water Do UK Data Centres Need?

This week, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: The UK government's defence review has earmarked £5bn for the development of autonomous drones. Just how big a deal is this? How much water do UK data centres actually use? We dig into a complex and opaque issue feeding an increasingly polarised debate.

Burnham on Bots; Not *That* Kind of Expert, Please

In this week's episode, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: The UK is set to get its seventh PM in 10 years. Just how is AI policy likely to change under an Andy Burnham government? Demand for AI specialists is surging in the UK, with half of London companies saying they lack the requisite expertise. But even if they can find them, do UK firms know how to deploy AI specialists?

The Rise of the Botsitters

This week, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: New studies show that Brits are fast AI adopters but profound agentic sceptics. Meanwhile, 50% of productivity gains are lost to "botsitting". How can we make sense of it all? The US government's ban of Anthropic's Fable 5 sent shockwaves around the AI world. What does it mean for the UK specifically?

The Future of Work; The Present of Fake Science

This week, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: The government hosted its first AI Adoption Summit on Monday and the future of work was at the top of the agenda. Amid major job cuts and ambitious upskilling schemes, what might the future hold for jobs in the UK? One of the UK’s top science integrity researchers says AI is producing fake science on an industrial scale. Hyperbole? Or a long overdue wake-up call? Plus, all the week's latest AI news from the UK...

DeepMind Startups Soar, Agentic Ads Boom, UK Banks Face Mythos Snub

This week, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: Yet more DeepMind alumni score major funding rounds for AI startups. But what exactly do Inherent and Orbital do? A key advertising body predicts UK spend on agentic advertising will balloon to £18bn by 2030. Do these punchy predictions hold up? And with UK banks denied advance access to Anthropic's Mythos model, OpenAI steps in to the breach. How important is the Anthropic snub?

Legal Hallucinations, Productivity Misses and Spooks Go Agentic

This week, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: Three+ years into the AI revolution and UK law firms are still getting tripped up by hallucinations. Why is this still happening? Sit down for this one: a new report from the Ada Lovelace Institute says that much ballyhooed predictions of AI-driven public sector efficiencies aren’t going to plan. Are the humans or the AI to blame? One UK security agency says we aren’t ready for agentic AI, while another announces plans to deploy it. It's more sensible than it sounds...

UK Datacentre Use Surges; Two UK AI Firms Secure Huge Funding Rounds

In this week's episode, Niels Footman and Matt Wilkinson discuss: The UK blows past its datacentre energy forecasts and the threshold at which resistance and regulation kick in. Trouble ahead? Touting AI as a workforce multiplier, AI literacy giant Multiverse hits a $2.1bn valuation. How convincing is its pitch? DeepMind spin-off Isomorphic Labs raises $2bn in latest funding round. British success story or another loss to global giants?

• Transcript

Keith Swain of Solveway on Whether the UK's AI Leadership Upskilling is Built to Last

On this week's show, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman sit down with Keith Swain, Managing Director of Solveway Apprenticeships, one of the first providers authorised to deliver the government's new Level 5 AI Leadership units. We discuss: What the 30-hour levy-funded modules actually cover — and what they leave out The shadow AI problem: why governance training matters when staff are already using tools their employers haven't sanctioned What SME leaders are really asking for, and whether the programme delivers it Why the people already inside your business may be your best AI resource

• Transcript

Mythos Worries, Employment Angst, Why Warm Bots May Be Lying To You

On this week's AI in the UK, Matt Wilkinson and Niels Footman discuss: Are AIs with warm personalities more prone to peddling misinformation? A leading UK research institute think so... The fallout from Mythos continues to hit the UK, but the NHS and financial services are seeing very different risks Almost 50% of London workers could see some of their tasks automated, according to a new report. But just how alarming is this really?

• Transcript