Why 'AI Growth Zone' offers genuine hope for Scotland's future
Private investors appear to be backing the scale of Labour’s ambition on artificial intelligence
Yesterday we welcomed the news that Dundee University scientists had developed a potentially life-saving test using artificial intelligence. Today we wholeheartedly welcome the announcement that Scotland is to host an ‘AI Growth Zone’ which the UK Government believes could bring in billions of pounds in investment and create thousands of new jobs.
Coupled with the UK’s planned £750 million national supercomputer at Edinburgh University, it represents a source of genuine hope. If everyone involved gets this right, the benefits for Scotland – and indeed the world – could be almost beyond imagining, with new medicines just the start of what can be achieved.
According to the UK Government, this country’s AI sector has become “a global magnet for investment”, with £44 billion of private money having been “unlocked” since last July. That seems like a major vote of confidence in the scale of Labour’s ambition.
AI is not without its concerns, not least about its ability to make many human jobs redundant. However, it’s surely much better to be at the forefront of this new technology, rather than trailing in the wake of other countries, as its potential explodes.
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