14.01.2025

SAINTS Director comments on UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan

This week, the Prime Minister announced the UK government’s plans to launch Artificial Intelligence across the UK ‘to deliver a decade of national renewal, under a new plan’ (gov.uk, 2025). 

This announcement was welcomed by many in the AI space, who believe it will enable the UK to retain its place as a leader in AI and benefit everyday people.

Professor Ibrahim Habli, SAINTS CDT Director and Professor in the Department of Computer Science, University of York, said:

“The shift from an unhealthy fixation on existential risk to prioritising the safety of real AI products and services is a welcome move in the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan.”

“The UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe Artificial Intelligence Systems (SAINTS) is committed to training future AI leaders with the cross-disciplinary expertise and practical skills needed to ensure AI benefits are realised without causing harm to people and the environment. This is not just a theoretical exercise but a collaborative journey with our industrial partners like Jaguar Land Rover and NATS, public sector bodies like the NHS, and with fantastic support from SMEs such as Ufonia and charities like the Lloyd’s Register Foundation.”

“Our next stage at SAINTS is to make our exhaustive training programme in AI engineering, safety, and its legal, ethical, and social dimensions more widely available, and to serve our institutional mission as a university for public good.”