The world’s biggest technology companies are pouring vast sums into AI. For example, tech giants Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle are expected to spend more than $700 billion in 2026, expanding US data centers and the computing infrastructure needed to serve growing global demand for AI.
With that scale of investment, AI is moving from a technological breakthrough to economic table stakes in the next big round of global economic growth. The winners of that contest will be those economic players that best anticipate and satisfy demand for AI services, with aggressive pricing aimed at eventual universal usage.
For the UK, that race comes after years of relatively sluggish performance. Between 2008 and 2025, analysis of World Bank data on annual GDP growth rates indicates the nation’s economy grew by an average of 1.2% a year, while International Labor Organization Modelled Estimates data indicate labor productivity increased by just 0.4%. AI offers a chance to improve that trajectory, capitalizing on the UK’s services-led economy and world-class AI research. But those advantages will count for little unless domestic investment in AI allows it to spread beyond piecemeal experimentation and become an integral part of business and government operations.
In our new report with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), The Adoption Decade: Closing the Execution Divide and Making AI Work for Britain, we examine how the UK can make that happen by taking advantage of the significant changes expected in AI services as the market matures.
Drawing on the experiences of business leaders and civil society, the report asks how wider AI adoption could boost the UK economy and build a differentiated sovereign stack that ensures those living in the UK benefit from the changes it brings. It also identifies barriers holding businesses back from widespread adoption and concrete actions necessary to realize benefits at scale.
The UK’s AI opportunity depends on getting businesses beyond pilot stage
Analysis of publicly available third-party data suggests that AI could lift UK gross domestic product by around 2% to 5% over five to 10 years. Annual labor productivity growth might increase by between 0.1% and 0.5%.
But just using AI does not guarantee results. For example, UK government-sponsored AI adoption research found only 12% of UK AI adopters saw a measurable increase in revenue, despite the fact that 35% used it to deliver new or improved products.
For those that manage to scale AI across the business, the results are stronger. A 2026 Oliver Wyman Forum report that surveyed 415 chief executives at New York Stock Exchange-listed companies found that 49% of businesses that successfully scaled AI are meeting or exceeding their return-on-investment expectations, compared with just 15% of businesses still in the earlier stages of adoption.
How UK businesses can unlock greater returns from AI
Based on our research, one of the keys to success is how organizations use AI . Those seeing higher returns tend to start with a business problem and rethink how the work gets done, rather than simply adding AI tools to existing processes. That requires applying a business transformation mindset to AI adoption and measuring the results accordingly.
For the UK, this could bring benefits beyond productivity. Much of today’s AI investment is concentrated in the United States, but more is expected to flow elsewhere as technology companies expand infrastructure closer to customers and satisfy their demand for cost efficiency, assurance, and resilience. The UK can compete for that investment and use its expertise in regulated sectors, such as financial services and healthcare, to put AI to work safely, supported by its cybersecurity and assurance industries.
People will ultimately determine whether AI adoption succeeds. Both employers and employees need to understand how AI will change their work and where human judgment remains essential. Businesses need rules that help employees use AI responsibly. The businesses making progress treat AI as a change in how they operate, not another piece of technology to install.
Four outcomes can turn AI adoption into higher UK productivity
UK companies cannot drive widespread use of AI on their own. Government needs to remove barriers so they can capture more of the economic opportunity. Our research identified four outcomes that government and companies should keep in mind to increase AI adoption and build a truly differentiated UK AI ecosystem.
1. Greater productivity and economic growth
The first is to achieve productivity benefits through AI adoption to raise living standards across the country. Turning AI into a national pan-industry engine of productivity and economic growth should garner support for it in the broader economy at a time when many in the general public are fearful of its long-term impact. Working with the private sector, government should also attempt to consolidate disparate efforts into a coherent strategic policy, making regulation that affects the sector easier to navigate and more intuitive.
2. A competitive and resilient UK AI stack
The second is to scale AI adoption and build a competitive UK stack to underpin resilience will keep the UK on the cutting edge of innovation and ensure UK residents and the economy benefit from adoption. The stack should expand access to computing capacity and AI-ready data and support investment in the resilience, energy, and connectivity needed for AI.
Businesses must build the organizational foundations for scaled AI adoption. Meanwhile, government must accelerate investment and regional deployment of stack infrastructure and strengthen the research and development ecosystem.
3. Trusted adoption to give users confidence to engage
A third outcome is to enable trusted, responsible, and human-centric AI adoption to manage AI-related risks and give end users the confidence to engage. For business, this means implementing robust governance and responsible adoption practices.
To push this goal, the CBI can bring businesses and workers together to explore a voluntary Responsible AI Adoption Code and public pledge covering issues such as accountability and human oversight. Government can evolve its regulatory model through assurance, clearer routes through the regulatory system, an AI growth lab that helps UK businesses navigate AI regulation, and growth-enabling regulatory simplification.
4. An AI-ready UK workforce and society
The fourth outcome is to build an AI-ready workforce and society to ensure broad participation in an AI-enabled economy as consumers, employees and users of public services.
To ensure that workers have the correct skill set, government should embed practical AI knowledge in education and provide support for workers to pursue it. At the same time, businesses should invest in these kinds of programs to help their current workforce add the skills they will need as AI changes their jobs.
UK government and business must work together to scale AI
As one of the first steps on the road toward large-scale AI adoption in the UK, The Adoption Decade proposes the creation of a Business AI Adoption Delivery Group as a vehicle to bring government and industry together to set priorities and track progress.
This government-industry taskforce should be convened by the CBI and partners, and sponsored by the Minister for Artificial Intelligence. A first key task of the Delivery Group would be to develop a shared scorecard for the coming years, including validating success measures and ensuring that progress is reported consistently over time.
Ultimately, the UK needs to turn its AI strengths into results that benefit its people. Its research and services-led economy will give it an advantage as AI services mature and evolve, but only if more businesses move beyond experimentation and the government can mobilize strategically. What matters now is whether businesses can put AI to work and government can remove the barriers in their way.
