UK risks falling behind in AI race without faster telecoms upgrades, say executives

‘Things are going to change massively in two or three years when AI is integrated into everything,’ said one senior executive. Photograph: David Gee 4/Alamy

The UK risks becoming a laggard in the global AI race as crucial telecoms upgrades to harness the technology fall behind rival nations, according to senior industry executives.

The infrastructure AI race has centred on the need to build datacentres, and to ensure they have access to the huge water and energy supplies required to cool and supply the computational power to train and run AI models.