UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced the creation of two new artificial intelligence (AI) research labs in the United Kingdom, supported by a £60 million investment from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The initiative is intended to strengthen the UK’s position in global AI research and innovation.
The labs will be led by University College London (UCL) and the University of Oxford, working in collaboration with partners including Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Imperial College London. One lab will focus on developing open‑source AI systems that can run on widely available hardware, while the other will explore new approaches to AI learning that do not rely on centralized computing power.
According to UKRI, the investment aims to rethink how AI works, learns, and can be made more open, efficient, and useful for the UK. The breakthroughs pursued are expected to have applications across healthcare, education, small businesses, public services, science, and advanced industry. Both labs will also support entrepreneurship and spin‑outs to help commercialize research outcomes.
AI Minister Kanishka Narayan stated that the UK is only beginning to unlock AI’s potential to grow the economy and improve public services. He emphasized that the new labs would make AI cheaper, more practical, and easier to adopt, while reducing reliance on external providers.
Professor Charlotte Deane, Senior Responsible Owner for the UKRI AI Programme and Executive Chair of EPSRC, emphasized that the UK already holds a leading position in AI research and has the necessary expertise and institutions to advance the field. She noted that the labs would support bold, high‑reward ideas that could shape the future of AI.
Professor David Barber of UCL, who will lead the Science of Fundamental AI Research (SOFAIR) Lab, explained that current AI systems often share similar architectures and face limitations such as inaccurate responses. He said SOFAIR would bring together multiple scientific disciplines to create new open‑source models, reducing dependency on a small number of providers.
Associate Professor Jakob Foerster of Oxford, who will lead the British Open‑ended Learning and Discovery (BOLD) Lab, stated that the UK cannot compete in AI by outspending large technology companies. He described BOLD as an effort to develop fundamentally new ways of building AI that are more efficient, open, and aligned with human needs.
The labs represent the first major investment under UKRI’s AI strategy. Each will initially receive around £8 million, with further funding to be released following an assessment in autumn 2026. The program also includes support for doctoral students and researchers at different career stages, aiming to build a pipeline of talent in AI research.
The SOFAIR Lab will focus on new AI architectures designed to run on widely accessible hardware, while the BOLD Lab will explore systems capable of working alongside humans and operating without extensive centralized computing resources. Both labs will translate research into open‑source tools and foster commercial spin‑outs, contributing to the UK’s broader AI ecosystem.
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