Scotland’s AI research capabilities have been in the news recently, with two prominent stories in as many weeks showcasing our leading role in the field.

On 31 October, the UK Government announced a £118m package to promote AI skills. The funding is intended to ensure the UK has top global AI expertise and “fosters the next generation of researchers needed to seize the transformational benefits of this technology”.

Four Scottish Universities involved in UKRI AI centres

The UK Government’s package includes support for 12 Centres for Doctoral Training in AI.

Amongst the 12 centres, three are based exclusively in Scotland, with another centre formed from a partnership that includes two Scottish universities. In total, four Scottish universities are involved.

Two of the centres are in the University of Edinburgh alone: the Centre for Doctoral Training in Responsible and Trustworthy in-the-world NLP, and the Centre for Doctoral Training in Biomedical Innovation.

Another centre is a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University: the Centre for Doctoral Training in Dependable and Deployable Artificial Intelligence for Robotics (D2AIR)

Finally, the Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Understandable agri-food Systems Transformed by Artificial Intelligence (SUSTAIN) is a partnership between the Universities of Aberdeen and Strathclyde, the University of Lincoln, and Queens University Belfast.

The Generative AI Laboratory (GAIL)

Hot on the heels of this news came the announcement of Edinburgh University’s Generative AI Laboratory (GAIL), an initiative to unite world-leading AI research and innovation to push the forefront of AI, develop safe solutions for industry and government, and realise societal benefits of AI.

GAIL will focus on areas including robotics, drug discovery, medical diagnoses, semi-conductor development, and climate change and will support the development of techniques for generative AI in these areas.

“GAIL builds on world-class research at the School of Informatics in AI and machine learning, which has been applied to a variety of fields such as healthcare, fintech and sustainability,” according to Professor Helen Hastie, Head of the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.

“The cutting edge of new and developing technology”

“I am very pleased that in the same fortnight that Edinburgh University has announced the launch of its new Generative AI Laboratory (GAIL) project, four of Scotland’s top universities have been named in the list of new AI centres for doctoral training,” said Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Small Business, Trade and Innovation. Scotland's AI Strategy and the Scottish AI Alliance are under Mr Lochhead’s ministerial portfolio.

“Scotland has a proud reputation for being at the cutting edge of new and developing technology and this investment will help make sure our innovators of the future are identified and supported at this key time for data and AI development.

“The choice of these institutions to train the AI developers of the future reflects the high regard and standing of Scotland’s academic institutions and I can’t wait to see the outcome of their work.”

While these developments alone are enough to put Scotland firmly on the map in terms of AI innovation, they follow several significant research and innovation milestones across the country. In June, Edinburgh was named the UK’s most AI-ready city outside of London, and in September, the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Data Science and AI was announced.