UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Statistics and Trends – Forbes Advisor UK

The rapidly growing field of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of our lives.

With AI already being implemented in everything from self-driving cars to medical diagnostic tools, we take a look at how the adoption of the technology is changing the UK.

Growth and adoption of AI in the UK

• According to the US Department for International Trade, the UK AI market is worth more than £16.8bn and is expected to grow to £801.6bn by 2035.¹
• The number of AI companies in the UK has increased by over 600% over the past decade.²
• Around one in six organizations in the UK, or 432,000 organizations, have at least one AI technology in place, according to government research.³
• 68% of large enterprises, 33% of midsize enterprises, and 15% of small businesses have implemented at least one AI technology.³
• Marks & Spencer reported an 80% reduction in warehouse accidents after a 10-week trial of computer vision technology.^Four
• government data^Five The most commonly adopted AI solutions in the UK focus on:

– Data management and analysis (9%)

– Natural language processing and generation (8%)

– Machine learning (7%)

– AI hardware (5%)

– Computer vision and image processing and generation (5%).

• The IT and telecommunications sector has the highest AI adoption rate at 29.5%, followed closely by the legal sector at 29.2%. The lowest adoption rates are in the hospitality, healthcare, and retail sectors at approximately 11.5%.

Economic and employment impact

• There are over 50,000 AI talent in the UK.⁶
• AI contributed £3.7bn to the economy in 2022.⁶
• The UK has twice the number of AI-based companies than any other country in Europe.⁶
• The UK health and social care sector is predicted to see the largest estimated net job gains from AI over the next 20 years.⁷
• Among the UK's major regions, Greater London leads the way for companies focused on AI, with 1,387 AI businesses based there as of June 2023.⁸
• London serves as a major hub for AI startups in the UK, hosting companies such as DeepMind, Adbrain and BenevolentAI, as well as prominent machine learning research groups from UCL, King's and Imperial College.

• Job postings in all sectors that mention AI advertise salaries that are 20% higher than those that don't.

• The government estimates that around 7% of existing jobs in the UK could be taken away over the next five years, rising to around 18% in 10 years and around 30% in 20 years, which is around This equates to 2.2 million jobs.⁷

AI language model

• According to a Forbes Advisor poll, 85% of Brits are aware of AI language models such as Chat GPT, Google Bard, and Bing Chat.
• Since its introduction in November 2022, eight of the 24 Russell Group universities have formally banned the use of ChatGPT and other AI language models.

self-driving car

• It is predicted that self-driving cars will be on UK roads by 2025, with £100m worth of government funding so far being committed towards this goal.
• A Forbes Advisor study found that 85% of those surveyed have concerns about AI technology in cars.

AI research and development

• The UK government was ranked 3rd in the 2023 Global AI Readiness Index and 1st in Western Europe. ⁹
• Since 2014, the government has allocated more than £2.3 billion to a range of initiatives in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).^Ten
• The UK government has committed almost £1 billion of government funding to AI research in its 2023 budget.¹¹
• The UK will invest £900m in cutting-edge supercomputers as part of its artificial intelligence strategy, including ensuring it can build its own 'BritGPT'.¹²

TRENDS, OUTLOOKS AND CONCERNS

• A survey by Forbes Advisor found that 59% of Brits are concerned about the use of artificial intelligence.
• The main concerns are:

source:

Primary data from Forbes Advisor was obtained from a sample of 2,000 adults representative of the UK population. The study was commissioned by Forbes Advisor and conducted by market research firm Opinium. Data was collected in May 2023.

1. https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/united-kingdom-artificial-intelligence-market-0#:~:text=The%20UK's%20AI%20market%20is,the%20UK%20economy%20by%202035 .
2. https://www.great.gov.uk/campaign-site/uk-na-innovation/sectors/artificial-intelligence/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-activity-in-uk-businesses/ai-activity-in-uk-businesses-executive-summary
4. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/global-hr/pages/uk-ai-safety.aspx
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-activity-in-uk-businesses/ai-activity-in-uk-businesses-executive-summary
6. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-unveils-world-leading-approach-to-innovation-in-first-artificial-intelligence-white-paper-to-turbocharge-growth
7. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1023590/impact-of-ai-on-jobs.pdf
8. https://thedatacity.com/blog/the-uks-top-artificial-intelligence-ai-hotspots/
9. https://oxfordinsights.com/ai-readiness/ai-readiness-index/
10. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-ai-strategy/national-ai-strategy-html-version
11. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-commits-up-to-35-billion-to-future-of-tech-and-science
12. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/15/uk-to-invest-900m-in-supercomputer-in-bid-to-build-own-britgpt