ChatGPT parent to invest in UK infrastructure and help transform public services while expanding London presence
OpenAI has signed a strategic partnership with the U.K. government to explore potential investments in British infrastructure and examine ways to transform public services through artificial intelligence technology.
The memorandum of understanding, signed by technology secretary Peter Kyle and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, outlines plans for the ChatGPT developer to potentially invest in U.K. data centers and support the recently announced AI Growth Zones across Britain.
As part of the agreement, OpenAI plans to expand its London office, which opened two years ago as the company’s first international location. The expanded presence intends to strengthen research and engineering teams working on frontier AI models while providing support to U.K. businesses, developers and startups.
“AI will be fundamental in driving the change we need to see across the country, whether that’s in fixing the NHS, breaking down barriers to opportunity or driving economic growth,” said Kyle in the government announcement.
“This partnership will see more of their work taking place in the U.K., creating high-paid tech jobs, driving investment in infrastructure and crucially giving our country agency over how this world-changing technology moves forward.”
The partnership includes several key initiatives. OpenAI would share more technical information with the U.K. AI Security Institute to enhance government understanding of AI capabilities and security risks.
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The company also would explore deploying AI in justice, defense, security and education sectors. OpenAI may develop state-of-the-art AI-enabled research and development infrastructure in the U.K. The company also plans to investigate supporting AI growth zones, which have received over 200 bids from across the country.
“AI is a core technology for nation building that will transform economies and deliver growth. Britain has a strong legacy of scientific leadership and its government was one of the first to recognize the potential of AI through its AI Opportunities Action Plan,” said Altman.
The agreement builds on existing collaboration, with OpenAI’s large language model already powering several tools in “Humphrey,” Whitehall’s AI assistant designed to reduce administrative burdens in the civil service.
This partnership follows the U.K. government’s commitment to invest up to $674 million in sovereign AI capabilities and $2.7 billion to support AI growth zones in Scotland and Wales, as outlined in the recent Spending Review and Compute Strategy.
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Industry Perspectives: Experts Weigh In on the OpenAI-UK Partnership
Technology and data leaders across various sectors have shared their insights on the implications of the landmark partnership, highlighting both opportunities and challenges ahead for the U.K.’s AI ambitions.
Imran Akhtar, head of academy, Mthree
“AI has the potential to transform how services are delivered for the better but the proof will be in how effectively it’s implemented across the public sector. That means ensuring the workforce is ready. AI shouldn’t sit solely with technical teams – it needs to be understood across departments and at every level. When everyone has a shared understanding of the technology, it supports compliance, improves decision-making and helps organizations get the most from AI. Investing in upskilling and reskilling to support adoption and effective use will be key.”
Neal Riley, co-founder and general manager, Salable
“The OpenAI partnership marks a further shift towards bringing talent and compute into the U.K. While the U.K. is playing catch up with its AI strategy, the OpenAI partnership underscores a clear focus on sovereign compute. However, compute alone will not be enough to modernize the way the government operates.”
Riley also points to the competitive landscape, referencing Altman’s statement that OpenAI will “cross well over 1 million GPUs brought online by the end of this year.”
Bernadette Wightman, U.K. lead, Iron Mountain
“Iron Mountain welcomes continued investment in the U.K.’s AI landscape and the drive to make the U.K. a leader in AI-driven public services. To fully realize the benefits of AI, we need to ensure that all existing U.K. data is AI-ready. Currently, U.K. organizations lag behind their global counterparts in AI maturity.”
Wightman cited research showing that just 7% of U.K. organizations are considered advanced in AI implementation, with fewer than half recognizing the importance of unstructured data to their AI strategies.
