‘Fantastic news’ as Burnham brings Britain’s AI minister into Cabinet Tech Andy Burnham has promoted Kanishka Narayan to a Cabinet position as Britain’s AI minister as part of his first major government reshuffle, handing artificial intelligence its first dedicated seat at the Cabinet table. Narayan will attend Cabinet for the first time after surviving Burnham’s sweeping reshuffle, which saw several senior ministers leave government and the [...]
AI minister: UK sets sights on global AI leadership, not Silicon Valley emulation Tech AI minister Kanishka Narayan said the UK must build enough domestic AI capability to “shape our own destiny” rather than rely on overseas tech giants as the government accelerates its push to develop sovereign AI infrastructure. Narayan told Morning Wire that AI had become “the defining currency” of geopolitical and economic power, arguing that the [...]
AI startup boss warns UK cannot become ‘dependent’ on overseas tech Tech UK AI infrastructure company Valarian has raised $50m (£37m) in fresh funding as its boss said countries should focus on controlling AI infrastructure rather than competing to build their own frontier models. The Series A round, led by Silicon Valley investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA), takes the London firm’s total funding to $70m and marks [...]
Kemi Badenoch: AI firms ‘won’t come here’ if Britain overregulates July 7, 2026 Kemi Badenoch has warned Britain risks driving away the next generation of AI giants unless it lowers industrial energy costs or fixes London’s capital markets, arguing the UK cannot regulate its way to becoming a global tech leader. Speaking at the Politics UK Summit in Westminster on Monday evening, the Conservative leader said Britain was [...]
Darktrace says Anthropic was right to pause Mythos on ‘security and safety’ grounds July 7, 2026 Darktrace has backed Anthropic’s temporary restrictions on its most advanced AI models, arguing the move was about safety rather than shutting Britain out of its frontier model. Nicole Carignan, Darktrace’s SVP of AI and security strategy, told Morning Wire the short-lived curb on Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable models should not be read as a straightforward [...]
Pigment boss: ‘We’re replacing legacy players at the speed of light’ June 24, 2026 Eléonore Crespo, co-founder and chief executive of Pigment, said the company is replacing legacy enterprise software providers “at the speed of light”, as demand for AI-native business planning accelerates across the private sector. The Paris-headquartered platform, which helps companies including Unilever, Siemens, Anthropic and Coca-Cola run financial planning and performance management, is approaching $100m (£75m) [...]
Trump to reject UK plea over Anthropic ban as AI ‘kill switch’ fears grow June 16, 2026 The White House is poised to reject Keir Starmer’s attempt to restore British access to Anthropic’s most advanced AI models, in a move that has exposed how dependent the UK has become on a handful of American Big Techs. Downing Street has spent recent days lobbying Washington for an exemption after the Trump administration blocked [...]
Starmer: Britain must ‘not stick its head in the sand’ on AI June 8, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer has said Britain must not “stick its head in the sand” on artificial intelligence, with the technology set to fundamentally reshape the UK economy. The Prime Minister used his speech at London Tech Week to unveil a major sovereign computing push, new AI skills programmes and a vision for keeping Britain’s fastest-growing [...]
Britain’s first sovereign AI model secures blue-chip backing as Starmer unveils £400m plan June 8, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer’s push to build sovereign British AI capability has won backing from some of the country’s biggest companies, with BT, HSBC, Lloyds, Natwest and BAE Systems joining plans to develop Britain’s first sovereign frontier AI model. British AI startup Cosine unveiled a coalition of major banks, defence contractors and infrastructure firms who had [...]
Revolut, Wayve and Elevenlabs join European tech sovereignty push June 1, 2026 The founders behind some of Europe’s biggest technology success stories, including Revolut, Wayve and ElevenLabs, have launched a new push for European tech sovereignty as the continent seeks to build homegrown rivals to Silicon Valley. More than 100 startup founders and chief executives have joined a new ‘built in Europe’ campaign spearheaded by venture capital [...]