Ed Cools The Vibe On AI Factories

When I get there, I know it’s going to be OK because I am ushered immediately through into the PM’s study where he is alone.

“Thanks for coming in Ed,“ says the PM, “I am being assailed on all sides by people who say the government should be investing in AI factories and and I would very much like your view.”

“The only significant amount of local jobs they create will be temporary ones in the construction industry, the equipment will be mostly shipped in from abroad and it doesn’t matter where AI programmes are trained, Prime Minister,” I tell him.

“So why is there all this pressure to invest in these datacentres ?”

“Well Prime Minister it’s like in the 80s when the government was being pressured to invest in leading edge high volume chip manufacturing. The UK chip companies were reluctant because it’s a volatile industry requiring large amounts of capital and periodically incurs large losses. For UK companies with the City on their backs it was not an attractive proposition.”

“But weren’t we worried about losing out on profiting from a growing industry? asked the PM.

“No, because the semiconductor industry is a cottage industry – if you are one of the best suppliers in a niche you can make good money selling to the major players, and this is what we did, and still do,” I replied.

“Weren’t we worried about losing access to the technology?” asked  the PM.

“That was the argument of the supporters of UK government chip investment,” I reply “but others pointed out that if the major economies all invested massively in chip production they would have to recoup the investment by selling their output and we could buy what we needed.”

“Does the same thinking apply to AI?” asked the PM.

“Given the scale of the investment in datacentres being proposed, there is a good chance they will build too much and their capacity will be available at reasonable rates,” I tell him.

“And if not?” asks the PM.

“Then we can add clauses to the contracts of foreign datacentre owners in the UK that we can have access to their capacity if required,” I reply.

“So what should I do about all these people pushing me to invest in AI infrastructure?“ asked the PM.

“Be encouraging,“ I reply, “assure potential investors that they will find the planning process quick, the supply of water and electricity prolific and that the regulation will be light. If you don’t look enthusiastic, people will say that you are not responding to the future industrial needs of the country.”

“And would they be right?“ asked the PM.

“In the 80s the  view was taken that the main value of the semiconductor industry was in the value which chips brought to the products in which the chips were installed and therefore value was best captured by fostering UK expertise in the application of chips in end products.”

“So we should focus on how these AI products should be applied to the real world?”

“Yes Prime Minister.”