The AI boom is beginning to appear in official data.
asserted
boom → begin → data
Without it, the UK economy would be in even more of a pickle, writes Ali Lyon.
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Lyon → write → pickle
Embark on a hunt for Europe’s most vibrant AI economy, and your search will take you to a surprising destination.
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search → embark → destination
The slander began in 1937, when John Betjeman wrote of his desire for “friendly bombs” to rain down on the east Berkshire neighbourhood, to destroy its ‘hellish’ industrial park.
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bombs → begin → park
In the noughties, it became synonymous with post-industrial corporate banality thanks to its laughable depiction in Ricky Gervais’s ‘The Office’.
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it → become → Office
And most recently, the creators of Slow Horses chose to set much of their their hit spy series in Slough House, a grim, colourless building to which agents are banished to watch their espionage careers wither.
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careers → choose → which
Of late, though, Slough is becoming a place where things are happening again.
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things → become → ?
The M4-corridor conurbation has forged a reputation as the unlikely poster child for the UK’s fledgling AI boom thanks, largely, to its abundant power supply and embarrassment of fibre optic cables.
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conurbation → forge → cables
It boasts the largest collection of data centres in all of Europe, and, recently, became the second-largest data hub in the world behind only the hard-charging region of Northern Virginia.
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It → boast → Virginia
It is a renaissance to which voters owe an increasing debt of gratitude.
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voters → owe → gratitude
According to the Bank of England’s most recent temperature check of the UK economy, a fifth of Britain’s growth so far this year is down to the boost in economic activity from artificial intelligence and its adjacent industries.
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fifth → accord → intelligence
“Strength in the economy has not been broad-based,” governor Andrew Bailey said at a press conference.
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Bailey → base → conference
But AI is helping dig us out of a hole largely of Donald Trump’s making.
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AI → help → making
So far, that uptick has not – despite what one might think – come from ‘real economy’ businesses leveraging the powerful technology to boost productivity.
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one → think → productivity
Though economists remain optimistic, there is, in fact, little to evidence of AI improving the UK’s productivity numbers at all.
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AI → remain → numbers
First, officials cited a large uptick in investment from professional services-like companies offering new AI-powered products to clients.
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officials → cite → clients
In plain English, that means the companies and individuals building the UK’s homegrown AI industry: rapidly scaling start-ups like Wayve and Elevenlabs; the expansion of US AI giants’ UK offices; or the investment in, and provision of, data centres that power the models used by the aforementioned AI companies, many of which – yes – are in Slough.
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many → mean → Slough
The evidence is beginning to appear in the Office for National Statistics’ data, too.
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evidence → begin → data
According to the authority’s August GDP figures, “information and communications” economic output grew by seven per cent year on year, while AI-exposed industries of law, accounting and research grew by nine per cent.
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industries → accord → cent
“It’s a little more difficult to be sure how much of a role AI has had here,” Berenberg’s Andrew Wishart wrote at the time.
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Wishart → ’ → time
“Either way, it is these two sectors that explain the recent pickup in growth.
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that → explain → growth
There is a danger, however, that we are becoming overreliant on this AI halo effect for our economic fortunes.
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we → be → fortunes
Strip out the tech-adjacent data, and the economic picture looks altogether more gloomy; so much so that Oxford Economics said a slowdown in AI momentum would presage a “substantial” risk of a recession.
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slowdown → strip → recession
“Without the AI effect […] the UK’s underlying growth would have been weak, at around one per cent a year,” lead economist Adam Slater said.
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Slater → say → cent
“That leaves [its economy] potentially exposed.”
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That → leave → economy
For now, though, the UK’s nascent AI boom remains afoot – and in Slough, the UK has an unlikely white knight to thank for it.
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UK → remain → it
The Aporia
