UK revises AI economic boost claim after £400bn figure traced to Google, Wired reports

The UK government’s claim that AI would add £400 billion to the economy has been cut to less than a third of that, the country’s AI minister acknowledged today, Wired reports. The original headline figure, used to sell pro-AI policy, largely stemmed from estimates provided by Google, according to Wired. The rethink matters because ministers had leaned on the number to signal the scale of expected gains even as adoption lags.

Wired says researchers blame the UK’s slow rate of enterprise adoption for deflating near-term impact, exposing optimism baked into earlier projections. Google’s input to the £400 billion figure raises questions over how external vendors shaped the government’s messaging and targets, and officials have not released full modeling behind the revision. Watch for any publication of the underlying analysis, ministerial corrections to prior statements, and whether budget plans or innovation policy are reset in the coming days. [Developing. This article will be updated.]