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The UK has signed a “strategic partnership” with OpenAI, as Sir Keir Starmer’s government seeks to attract more investment in the country’s artificial intelligence sector and use the technology to streamline public services.
The voluntary memorandum of understanding includes a pledge from OpenAI to “explore” investing in AI infrastructure, such as data centres and hire more staff in the UK, without providing details on how much spending is being considered.
In return, the UK government has committed to find ways to adopt OpenAI’s AI technologies in public services such as justice, defence and security, and education technology. That could require using the data of millions of UK citizens to create AI-powered digital services.
The deal comes as the UK seeks to boost the adoption of AI technologies and build more computing infrastructure, having been home to leading AI research laboratories such as Google’s DeepMind arm. However, the nation’s funding gap with AI superpowers such as the US and China remains large.
Private AI investment in the UK last year was $4.5bn, compared with $109.1bn in the US and $9.3bn in China, according to data from Stanford University’s 2025 AI Index Report.
The government’s AI strategy has critics, such as creative industry groups, which have attacked its willingness to consider changes to copyright laws to allow tech companies, such as OpenAI, to more freely use the material of rights holders to train AI models.
In January, digital secretary Peter Kyle unveiled an “AI opportunities action plan” to boost the UK’s AI sector and set up so-called “AI growth zones” to increase investment in AI infrastructure across the country. The government has earmarked £2bn for these plans.
In the deal signed on Monday, OpenAI said it “could look to invest in and support” the scheme.
“Britain has a strong legacy of scientific leadership and its government was one of the first to recognise the potential of AI through its AI opportunities action plan,” said OpenAI chief Sam Altman. “Now, it’s time to deliver on the plan’s goals by turning ambition to action and delivering prosperity for all.”
Kyle said: “This partnership will see more of [OpenAI’s] work taking place in the UK, creating high-paid tech jobs, driving investment in infrastructure, and crucially giving our country agency over how this world-changing technology moves forward.”
He has also signed similar deals with another US-based AI company, Anthropic, in February and Canadian AI start-up Cohere in June.
Anthropic’s AI models are being used in the government’s new smartphone app, which is designed to help citizens find information on the government’s website. Meanwhile, Cohere has pledged to also help the public sector use its technologies, including the defence sector.
OpenAI has also promised to “explore” developing research and development infrastructure in the UK, after setting up its first office outside the US in London two years ago.
The ChatGPT maker also committed to sharing information about AI with the UK’s AI Security Institute about its model capabilities and security risks.
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s hugely popular chatbot, and its 4o model are already embedded with the government’s AI assistant called Humphrey, which is designed to help civil servants with administrative tasks. OpenAI’s technology currently helps to sort public responses to consultations.
“Will partnerships like this contribute to an ecosystem in which the UK is an ‘AI maker’, with our own tech firms and SMEs able to flourish — or will they simply entrench the market power of incumbent players and leave us as an ‘AI taker’?” said Imogen Parker, associate director at the Ada Lovelace Institute, an AI research institute.
“Partnerships like this might look like a good deal today, but they risk creating structural dependencies, limiting our ability to seek alternatives in future,” she added.
