The new Labour government has shelved £1.3bn of funding promised by the Conservatives for tech and Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects, the BBC has learned.
It includes £800m for the creation of an exascale supercomputer at Edinburgh University and a further £500m for AI Research Resource, which funds computing power for AI.
Both funds were unveiled less than 12 months ago. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said the money was promised by the previous administration but was never allocated in its budget.
Some in the industry have criticised the government’s decision. Tech business founder Barney Hussey-Yeo posted on X that reducing investment risked “pushing more entrepreneurs to the US.” Businessman Chris van der Kuyl described the move as “idiotic.”
“We never actually planned to pay this” - conservatives
“pushing more entrepreneurs to the US.”
Weird that private capital expects taxpayer money for their ventures lol
Or are they offering equity stake for these investments?
Grifters gonna grift. They’ll come here anyway even if they get the funds because there’s more and the Elons and Trumps make it easy for them to peddle snake oil without consequence.
