UK AI Opportunities Action Plan: 2026 Progress Report
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) released the AI Opportunities Action Plan: One Year On progress report on 29 January 2026. This report evaluates the delivery of 50 recommendations established in early 2025 to scale the United Kingdom’s artificial intelligence sector. This included ensuring compute capability, investing in homegrown AI, and unlocking private and public sector data assets.
For General Counsel and C-suite leaders, the 2026 update gives a helpful indication of how the UK plans to resolve structural barriers to AI adoption across key pillars of infrastructure, data, skills, energy, and regulatory certainty.
Key metrics from the reporting period include:
- Action Status: 38 of the 50 key commitments have been met within the first twelve months.
- Infrastructure: A sixfold increase in supercomputer capacity at the University of Cambridge was confirmed via a £36 million investment into the DAWN facility.
- AI Growth Zones: Five designated AI Growth Zones (AIGZ) have been established in Culham, the North East, North Wales, South Wales and Lanarkshire. These zones prioritise grid capacity and planning approvals for high-scale compute.
- Energy Strategy: The first pilot at Culham (Oxfordshire) is exploring the integration of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and renewable energy to power data centres of up to 500MW.
The focus remains on three core pillars: laying foundational infrastructure, scaling adoption in public services, and supporting homegrown AI enterprises.
Regulatory Horizon
The UK maintains a sector-specific approach, with Regulators to report annually on how they have enabled innovation and growth driven by AI in their sector. The UK has also recently implemented the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, including new powers for government to establish Smart Data schemes.
The Progress Dashboard reveals that work on reforming UK text and data mining laws so that the regime is at least as competitive as the EU is yet to begin.
AI Growth Zones might present opportunities for corporations to access digital infrastructure, which could be an increasingly relevant factor for corporate real estate and expansion strategies.
Responsible AI is also a focus, with the AI Opportunities Action Plan focusing on the AI assurance ecosystem as well as skills and training. The Government aims to expand workforce upskilling programmes and provide 10 million workers with AI skills by 2030.
Horizon scanning
The UK remains the leading AI market in Europe, with £6 billion in venture capital raised by domestic firms in 2025, including pioneers such as Google DeepMind, ARM and Wayve, and globally respected leadership on AI governance, including the AI Safety Institute.
The 2026 roadmap shows that, following delivery of key policy objectives, the focus will be on enabling deployment of cutting edge AI applications, encouraging pro-innovation sandbox initiatives and accelerating AI in priority sectors.
