Britain announces Meta-backed AI team to upgrade public services
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is looking to tap into the huge economic potential of developing an AI industry.
PHOTO: EPA
LONDON – The British government said on Jan 27 it had recruited a team of artificial intelligence (AI) specialists to build AI tools to improve transport, public safety and defence, using funding from Meta.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, like many other leaders around the world, is looking to tap into the huge economic potential of developing an AI industry and, at the same time, use the technology to improve productivity across the government.
The government said the AI experts would spend the next year developing open-source tools to improve how the authorities maintain roads and transport networks, manage public safety, and make decisions on national security.
The body includes a data scientist from The Alan Turing Institute and university researchers whose expertise spans computer vision, applied machine learning for the public sector, robotics-driven imaging and the design of trustworthy, safety-critical AI systems.
The programme will focus on developing technology that public bodies can run without relying on commercial, closed-source systems, it added.
Meta, which announced funding the project in July 2025, said at the time the experts would be using open-source models like Meta’s AI system, Llama – a large language model capable of processing data including text, video, images and audio.
It also said tools built with these models would be owned by the government, allowing departments to keep sensitive data in-house and adapt the technology as needed. REUTERS
