Oxford and UCL to lead UK-funded labs on next-generation AI
New AI labs will focus on cheaper, more open and more practical AI systems.
The UK government has announced two new AI research labs led by University College London and the University of Oxford, backed by up to £60 million in funding and access to large-scale computing power.
The labs will work on next-generation AI systems that are cheaper to run, more reliable and easier for businesses, researchers and public services to use. Funding will be provided through UK Research and Innovation’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council over six years.
The announcement expands the government’s original plan from one AI lab to two, increasing planned funding from £40 million to up to £60 million. The labs will also receive access to computing resources valued at tens of millions of pounds.
The Science of Fundamental AI Research Lab, or SOFAIR, will be led by Professor David Barber at UCL, with researchers from Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh. It will focus on open-source AI technologies that can run on widely available hardware, aiming to reduce dependence on a small number of model providers.
The British Open-ended Learning and Discovery Lab, known as BOLD, will be led by Associate Professor Jakob Foerster at Oxford, in collaboration with UCL and Imperial College London. It will explore AI systems that can learn more efficiently, adapt to new situations and operate in physical environments.
Each lab will receive £2 million to recruit at least 10 doctoral students, supporting the UK’s AI talent pipeline. The labs will also work with existing UK AI research organisations, including the Alan Turing Institute and UKRI’s AI research hubs.
The funding forms part of UKRI’s wider AI strategy, a £1.6 billion plan to strengthen the UK’s AI research and innovation capacity over the next four years.
Why does it matter?
The investment shows the UK trying to compete in AI through fundamental research, open-source methods and efficient systems rather than only through larger datasets and more computing. By funding labs focused on reliability, lower-cost deployment and widely available hardware, the government is trying to make advanced AI more usable beyond large technology companies. The policy also links AI research to national capability, resilience and a domestic talent pipeline.
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