David Lammy has written for the Financial Times on a question that is becoming increasingly important for the UK: how do we build our own AI capabilities while navigating growing competition between the US and China?
Drawing on his experience as Foreign Secretary, David looks at AI through a geopolitical as well as technological lens — examining the UK's reliance on overseas technology, the security questions surrounding Chinese AI models, and the need to invest in and champion British AI companies.
The piece is a timely reminder that the AI conversation now extends well beyond what the technology can do. Who builds it, who controls the infrastructure behind it, and how countries protect their own capabilities are becoming questions of economic resilience, diplomacy and national strategy.
That intersection of technology, politics and global affairs will only become more important as AI reshapes the balance of economic and geopolitical power.