UK to invest £900m in supercomputer in bid to build own ‘BritGPT’

47 comments
  1. “We think there’s a risk that we in the UK, lose out to the large tech companies, and possibly China”

    Lmao, the race is over everyone else has gone home to prepare for the next one.

  2. It’s good to see some investment in the UK tech sector, however I can see this going over budget, missing its completion date and being poorer than predicted. Maybe I am cynical based on other government projects but promises by them to invest heavily in projects like this have form of being underwhelming.

  3. It’s 2055, half of London is underwater.
    All political parties have been abolished due to corruption.
    BritGPT instigates a coup and takes over control of the country.
    This is not how we planned it.
    Computers rule the planet
    We lost the fight.

  4. Barely a dent compared to what openai have received from msoft. Feels like a waste, although I’m sure some conservative mps relative works in the sector.

  5. does this ever work? Government saying “here is some money, now go make a British version, of this new thing that was built elsewhere”. It seems so forced and cliche.

  6. Knowing the UK Govt the £900 million for this project will be given to a company run by a major Tory donor with no experience of IT / computing. That company will supply the Govt with one computer that it bought from Curry’s for £400….

  7. >UK to ~~invest~~ to spaff £900m on party donors in supercomputer in bid to ~~build own ‘BritGPT’~~ build something nobody needs, that could be scrapped in a couple of years, but who needs to get richer, will.

  8. >Both of the men had been trained for this moment, their lives had been a preparation for it, they had been selected at birth as those who would witness the answer, but even so they found themselves gasping and squirming like excited children.

    >”And you’re ready to give it to us?” urged Loonsuawl.

    >”I am.”

    >”Now?”

    >”Now,” said BritGPT,

    >They both licked their dry lips.

    >”Though I don’t think,” added BritGPT. “that you’re going to like it.”

    >”Doesn’t matter!” said Phouchg. “We must know it! Now!”

    >”Now?” inquired BritGPT,

    >”Yes! Now…”

    >”All right,” said the computer, and settled into silence again. The two men fidgeted. The tension was unbearable.

    >”You’re really not going to like it,” observed BritGPT,

    >”Tell us!”

    >”All right,” said Deep BritGPT . “The Answer to the Great Question…”

    >”Yes..!”

    >“it is pronounced *scone*”

    said BritGPT, with infinite majesty and calm.

  9. Track and trace: £37B. HS2: £55B. Nightingales: £530m.

    £900m for an AI that will be broken from the moment it starts? Priceless.

  10. Are we going to program it with cultural knowledge? What if it calls a bread bun a “bap” or suggests milk goes first?

  11. After three years and 900mm spent all BritGPT will do is answer in three word slogans a la ‘Squash the Sombrero’ and ‘Build back Beaver’.

  12. Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don’t.

  13. Was going to joke it won’t work, but then neither does ChatGPT despite how much the fanboys get angry when you point this out.

  14. It’s hard to say if it’s the journalists, or the politicians that have injected the stupid, but this is a really stupid headline.

    A £900m LLM is a stupid idea. Spending that money on a supercomputer, for science, the military etc as well as AI generally is a great idea. It would be just the kind of thing we need to stay relevant in the technology industry. I’ll be interested to see how much is allocated for the computer vs how much for the model.

  15. I like how the met office will build a super computer worth 1.2 billion to predict something like 24 hours ahead of what they currently can but can’t even get the fucking weather correct now.

  16. Its a great announcement but really we need to move away from this way of handling these sectors. Ultimately while the money will go to *some* good use, these little dribs and drabs being released to individual pet concepts and projects is not ever going to make up for a coherent national industrial strategy and investment plan. Its getting to the point where we look kind of foolish. You look at Germany, they are committing to over $200bn of spending in their industrial development plan to 2026. They have recently put $10bn into an EU Start-Up VC fund. South Korea has committed to close to *half a trillion* dollars for its semiconductor industry to keep the ball rolling on their EUV developments. Same in the US, CHIPS is already leading to tens of billions of dollars being put into action. By comparison, while again I can’t stress enough its still positive, our own announcements feel a little like pissing in the wind throwing the odd gold sovereign to some worthy cause, when we are crying out for some leadership and forward planning to put the vast, *vast*, resources of this country working towards some kind of aim or goal.

  17. Oh, my. I wonder if the company that’s getting backed will have a good friendship with a member of the conservative party, and just mysteriously not produce anything after 4 years.

  18. I look forward to Serco running this, with input from Big 4 consultants, it failing to deliver, and the whole thing costing roughly 12 bajilion Brexit bucks.

  19. They’ll do what they normally do…give the contract to a friend…who will declare the project a failure after all the cash has disappeared

  20. Why do people keep allowing these morons to throw money away?!

    How about we let the people have affordable energy bills, a working NHS, fuel prices that aren’t insane and job security where you get paid a living wage instead of some bullshit hypothetical computer that will only put more money into greedy Tory pockets

  21. “Britgpt” Why are we so cringe when it comes to naming stuff.If we want to beat china we need to support our younger generations and get an 80s style tech push in education.Or get behind Qualcom,the pi foundation and thousands of others and push british fab and software. This is also on the budget end of a project like this exspect it to be an anmeic

  22. Where the f*ck did the government get £900m.

    We can’t afford to help people pay their bills, or pay wages in line with inflation, or feed hungry children, or build proper homes that are safe to live in, or even fill in the bloody potholes.

    But a supercomputer, hell yeah that’s a priority!!!

    I hate this country…

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