'AI sandbox' revealed in budget - with cash prizes for innovators

The UK volition motorboat an "AI sandbox" to promote groundbreaking probe into artificial intelligence, the chancellor has announced, with millions of pounds successful prize wealth up for grabs implicit the adjacent decade.

Jeremy Hunt utilized his archetypal fund to outline the aboriginal stages of a caller "quantum strategy", which forms portion of the government's ambition for the state to go a "science and exertion superpower".

Hunt announces 'crowd pleasers' - authorities latest

That includes a programme to plough £2.5bn into quantum computing by 2033. These are acold much almighty than accepted machines, harnessing quantum physics to store information and execute calculations - some cardinal to AI.

"The powerfulness that AI's analyzable algorithms request tin beryllium provided by quantum computing," Mr Hunt told the Commons.

His alleged sandbox volition proceedings faster approaches to assistance AI businesses get "cutting edge" products to market, with imaginable changes to rules astir intelligence spot truthful that they tin entree the worldly they require.

Innovators volition vie for the Manchester Prize, with £1m up for grabs each twelvemonth for the adjacent decade.

Read more:
Key points from the budget

Mr Hunt has antecedently said helium wants the UK to go "the adjacent Silicon Valley", the California location of immoderate of the world's biggest tech companies.

In a bid to promote investment, the chancellor besides announced an "enhanced credit" strategy to enactment technological probe and development.

He told MPs: "If a qualifying tiny oregon medium-sized concern spends 40% oregon much of their full expenditure connected R&D, they volition beryllium capable to assertion a recognition worthy £27 for each £100 they spend."

The video crippled industry, meanwhile, volition beryllium handed an expenditure recognition astatine a complaint of 34%.