OpenAI is getting nearer with the UK authorities

The UK authorities has introduced a new strategic partnership with OpenAI that might lead the corporate to “develop AI safety analysis collaborations, discover investing in UK AI infrastructure like knowledge facilities, and discover new methods for taxpayer funded companies” to make use of AI. The transfer follows the introduction of the AI Action Plan in January, which fast-tracks the development of information facilities in sure areas of the UK.

Within the (solely voluntary) partnership settlement — technically a Memorandum of Understanding — OpenAI and the Division for Science, Innovation and Know-how (DSIT) comply with sort out positive-sounding, however in the end imprecise duties issues like discovering methods for “superior AI fashions” for use in each the private and non-private sectors and sharing info across the safety dangers of AI. OpenAI can also be supposed to assist DSIT determine methods it could possibly ship on the infrastructure objectives of the AI Motion Plan, and presumably discover constructing in one of many UK’s new knowledge center-friendly “AI Progress Zones.”

All of this sounds nebulous and non-committal as a result of the memorandum OpenAI signed is by no means legally-binding. The partnership sounds good for elected officers desperate to show the UK is competing in AI, but it surely does not tie anybody down, together with the UK authorities: If Anthropic affords a deal on Claude, they’ll take it.

OpenAI already has offices in London, so deepening its funding does not appear out of the query. Signing the memorandum can also be in keeping with OpenAI’s rising curiosity in working with governments determined for the high-tech gloss of the AI trade. The logic follows that if OpenAI can get regulators depending on its instruments — say, a ChatGPT Gov particularly designed for presidency businesses — they will be extra inclined to favor the corporate in coverage selections. Or on the very least, making a present of collaborating early may win the corporate a sweeter deal down the highway.