The UKAI believes the UK could become the next ‘Green AI superpower’
The UK’s only trade association for AI businesses believes the country needs to become the next ‘green AI superpower’
The report, produced by UKAI, argues that the UK has an opportunity to lead the next phase of global AI by becoming the world’s foremost hub for Green AI. This would involve ensuring that AI is efficient, affordable, scalable, and aligned with long-term economic and environmental sustainability.
That is the central conclusion of a new report published by UKAI, the trade body representing the UK’s AI industry. As AI continues to scale, the report claims that global leadership will be shaped by technical capabilities and by how effectively countries integrate AI into energy systems, infrastructure, markets, and public trust.
Instead of competing on raw compute alone, the report argues that future advantage will belong to countries delivering the greatest economic and social value per unit of energy, infrastructure, and resources.
UKAI believes that the UK is uniquely positioned to lead this shift, as it is already operating under conditions that many other AI economies will soon face, including high energy costs, grid constraints, complex planning systems, and strong public scrutiny.
Four priorities for leadership
The report identifies four mutually reinforcing priorities that define a Green AI strategy: integrated infrastructure, fairer pricing, targeted innovation, and smarter systems.
Tim Flagg, chief executive of UKAI, said, “The UK is at a crossroads; with the opportunity to become the next green AI superpower, if we seize the moment.”
Flagg continued, “We do not need to win the AI race by building scale. Our advantage is learning how to make AI work in the real world: efficiently, affordably, and responsibly. We already have the foundations: world-class research, strong innovation, and hard-won experience operating under energy and infrastructure constraints. That gives us a genuine opportunity to lead and to export Green British AI to a global market that is starting to face the same challenges and requires the solutions that we are pioneering. But this window will not stay open for long; we need to act now.”
A recent report from Capgemini’s Nikhil Gulati suggested that agentic AI could also play a significant role in creating a more secure critical national infrastructure.
Charlotte Wilson, head of Enterprise business UKI Check Point Software, said, “The global race develop sustainable, energy-efficient AI solutions is vital for securing Britain’s long-term growth and the safety and security of its critical national infrastructure. With growing volumes of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks targeted at utilities and power providers, it’s essential that any new AI deployments are secure by design, rather than having cyber protection simply bolted on as an afterthought. The opportunity to become a green AI superpower brings with it huge economic opportunities, but crucial to its success is rigorous protection of devices and data from outsider threats.”
The report will be published on January 22 at: UKAI – The trade association for UK AI Businesses
