What does the future hold for AI in London?

10 minutes ago

ShareSave

Winnie Agbonlahor

ShareSave

BBC

This avatar of BBC London’s Helen Drew was created by AI firm Synthesia with just pictures and voice recordings

Helen DrewLondon

London has “incredible talent from across Europe and worldwide” in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector, according to one AI boss.

Laura Gonzalez, chief of staff at London-based AI firm Synthesia, said: "London, in particular, and the UK is the melting pot. We have access to incredible talent coming from across Europe and worldwide, and we’re seeing an influx of great US talent wanting to come [to London].

Synthesia, which provides a platform for corporate training videos and online learning for organisations like NatWest, Lloyds Bank, the NHS and the UN, is one of many AI companies based in London.

Among its creations is this avatar of BBC London’s Helen Drew, which was made using a handful of photos and a recording of her voice saying something else entirely.

This avatar of BBC London’s Helen Drew was created by AI firm Synthesia using images and voice recordings

Gonzalez said: “We serve over 70% of the FTSE 100 companies, but we are also a global success. I think what we’re very proud of is to show that you can build a global company coming out of the UK.”

Youssef Alami Mejjati, head of research at Synthesia, said the company was working on the next level of training videos.

He said: “So, while you’re watching a training video, you could basically interrupt the video and say, ‘Hey, I don’t understand this specific point’, and the avatar video can basically enhance that… for you and then you can continue with the rest of your video.”

This technology, he adds, would be similar to putting a hand up in school and asking the teacher to explain something.

Lord Ranger, Conservative member of the AI all-Party parliamentary group, warns against brain drain to the US

In a government announcement outlining Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ economic growth plans, it said that since 2020, more AI companies have been founded in Britain per capita than anywhere else in Europe

Reeves said the UK would see the fastest adoption of AI in the G7, with “a record £2.5bn boost to secure the UK as a world leader in AI and quantum”.

However, Lord Ranger, Conservative member of the AI all-party parliamentary group, warns against ‘brain drain’ to the US.

"I think the key thing we need to look at is how do we incentivise those entrepreneurs in terms of the investment that they’re making in their time and their funds to retain the benefits as they scale up.

“Otherwise, they are being attracted by funds and investment from overseas, notably from the US, and they will then be asked to take those opportunities, take those advantages and move,” he added.

_Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to _hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

More on this story

AI to be used in bid to cut hospital waiting times

‘Using AI to manipulate the truth is not on’

Judge rejects Pentagon’s attempt to ‘cripple’ Anthropic

Artificial intelligence

London