3. Academia: The embrace of open source by the academic community has allowed researchers to operate outside of the restrictions imposed by proprietary platforms and tools. It provides researchers with an unbounded laboratory, free from the constraints of commercial licenses. Perhaps more importantly, the computing resources required to develop cutting-edge AI developments, like Large Language Models (LLMs), are substantial, and eectively out of reach of academic researchers today. In the absence of open-source models, academic researchers will lack the ability to meaningfully participate in the development of LLMs and other computationally intensive models.

Embracing AI is Critical for National Security It's not hyperbole to assert that America's AI leadership is crucial, especially when viewed through the prism of the Wests dynamic with China. As Beijing aggressively integrates AI into its military strategies, surveillance apparatus, and economic master plans, the U.K.s place as a technological beacon isn't just innovative startupsit's about safeguarding national security. If the UK and aligned western governments let our AI momentum wane, we risk being outpaced in areas like cybersecurity, intelligence operations, and modern warfare, handing strategic advantages to a formidable competitor.

But this also has signicant economic and ideological ramications. AI is a foundational computing technology that will continue to transform all sectors of the economy and drive the creation of new industries and jobs in ways we cannot yet anticipate. The ability of the U.K. economy to disproportionately benet from AI as other countries have with microchips and the internet depends critically on whether AI is developed by companies within the U.K. Additionally, the U.K.'s AI endeavors are intertwined with its democratic fabric, emphasizing individual freedoms, privacy, and an ethos of open innovation. In stark contrast, China's AI trajectory is heavily inuenced by state control and surveillance priorities. If the U.K. leads the West by standing at the forefront of AI, we can drive global norms that prioritize these democratic values in the emerging AI-driven world. Overbearing regulations risk ceding western leadership to China reshaping the global tech ecosystem in a way that's less

s DNA for the next 20 years.