this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2025
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UK Politics

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36
Deal to get ChatGPT Plus for whole of UK discussed by Open AI boss and minister (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 4 days ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk
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The boss of the firm behind ChatGPT and the UK technology secretary discussed a multibillion-pound deal to give the entire country premium access to the AI tool, the Guardian has learned.

Sam Altman, a co-founder of OpenAI, talked to Peter Kyle about a potential agreement to give UK residents access to its advanced product.

According to two sources with direct knowledge of the meeting, the idea was floated as part of a broader discussion in San Francisco about opportunities for collaboration between OpenAI and the UK.

Those close to the discussion say Kyle never really took the idea seriously, not least because it could have cost as much as £2bn. But the talks show the enthusiasm with which the technology secretary has embraced the artificial intelligence sector, despite concerns over the accuracy of some chatbot responses and implications for privacy and copyright.

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[–] Noit@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I’m not pro this for reasons others have pointed out, but there is a ray of sunshine alongside the clouds of “just give loads of taxpayer money to a foreign company and hope it improves matters”.

If humanity is on a path to true artificial evidence, one of the worst case scenarios is that we end up with a few AI-haves (read: billionaires) and then the rest of humanity end up as the have-nots fighting over the scraps left over. What we have here is a government aspiring to ensure we all have equal access to the AI future. This is a hugely important thing that should not be downplayed even if the current approach is ham-handed at best. This is a baby that should not be thrown out with the bath water.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Big if there. They were prepared to just hand over 2 billion pounds to a foreign company in the hope that that company eventually comes up with a product that's actually worth 2 billion pounds. Perhaps a better bet would be to wait and see if they do.

I agree with you in general that it would be very bad for the public not to have access to a true AGI but I sort of feel like in that scenario all bets are off. Would it even make sense to honour prior agreements, does a agreement made under one economic system make sense under a different economic system?

Also wouldn't the best bet me to simply develop our own AI rather than relying on an American company?

[–] Noit@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

You’re making two competing arguments. One is that AI is going nowhere and the government shouldn’t invest. And another that we are going to the AGI future and we should build it here. If you think 2 billion to OpenAI is expensive then you’ll be shocked by how much it would cost to get enough AI talent to move to the UK and build us something that competes with the top US and Chinese models.

The government is going to have to make a gamble one way or another and it either costs us a lot of money or risks a huge opportunity. There aren’t any winning options that make everyone happy.

[–] Twig@sopuli.xyz 38 points 4 days ago (1 children)

£2bn for food and housing would be nice.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago

please don't use people's tax money for this

[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago

for two billion fucking quid, they should own the entirety of open ai, and have sam altman become the british public's official jester for 5 years.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

So it's not from Kyle, who's the potential buyer. Just another sales pitch from con artist Altman.

[–] UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk 9 points 3 days ago

When I see a screenshot of Google Gemini saying that the word Oreo is a palindrome (it's spelt the same backwards and forwards), I don't know why we're all running towards AI to do everything. Plus there's the environmental cost as well.

[–] tazeycrazy@feddit.uk 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Can we stop depending on American scraps and make our own AI monoliths.

[–] scintilla@crust.piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Based on everything I've heard I think your power is genuinely too expensive for it to be worth while. In the US and china power is much cheaper.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

That's easy to fix. The government just need to stop with their stupid price protection racket. Power doesn't need to cost that much, they make it cost more then strict economic forces would otherwise make it.

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 3 points 3 days ago

A lot of the problem is the way electricity is priced, based on the most expensive unit, gas.

[–] tazeycrazy@feddit.uk 1 points 3 days ago

I would think that can use data centers abroad or look at more power effecent models. But that's the aim that all the ai companies have.

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 3 points 3 days ago

I'd rather have an angry wasp enema, ta!