Only about 1 per cent<\/a> of the UK\u2019s AI businesses are based in Northern Ireland but the region has dynamic software, fintech, healthcare and digital services industries which use AI<\/a> in their products or operations and could find themselves covered by the new EU law.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think people have really woken up to the fact that the digital border is going to be significant,\u201d said Steve Aiken, a senior member of the Ulster Unionist Party which, like other pro-UK parties, is opposed to the customs border in the Irish Sea that Brexit created. <\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t be in a situation where the UK is, for instance, more aligned with the United States [on AI regulation] and Northern Ireland is stuck in the EU,\u201d he said. Some \u201cback office\u201d functions for City of London businesses are based in Belfast, he added.<\/p>\n UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who is keen to improve relations with the EU while keeping strong trade links with the US under incoming president Donald Trump, wrote in the Financial Times<\/a> on Monday: \u201cWe don\u2019t need to walk down a US or an EU path on AI regulation \u2014 we can go our own way, taking a distinctively British approach.\u201d<\/p>\n The government has unveiled plans to build a new supercomputer and invest in a 20-fold increase in the UK\u2019s sovereign computing power. <\/p>\n Experts said the full scope of application in Northern Ireland was not clear. The EU\u2019s AI Act is phased in from February 2.<\/p>\n But Ryan Donnelly, co-founder of Enzai, a Belfast-based AI governance platform advising Fortune 500 companies in healthcare, financial services, telecoms, infrastructure and other sectors, said Northern Ireland could \u201conce again be in the crunch zone\u201d.<\/p>\n Regulatory divergence between Britain and Northern Ireland could be \u201cmessy\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and messy is not exactly very attractive to international AI businesses\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains a leading AI nation and Northern Ireland will benefit from our plan to exploit the economic growth that AI will bring,\u201d a government spokesperson said, noting \u201csubstantive provisions\u201d of the EU AI Act would only apply in the region following agreement at the EU-UK Withdrawal\u00a0Agreement Joint Committee.<\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n
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