UK government commits £60 million to launch two fundamental AI research hubs, doubling its initial planned investment

Original post

🚨 2 major new AI labs in the UK 🚨

3 months ago, we launched a £40m call for a fundamental AI lab in the UK.

Given the exceptional bids we received, we have doubled down: 2 new AI labs, £60m seed funding.

▪️@BOLD_LAB_AI: led by @j_foerst, with an exceptional team of @CULLYAntoine, @shimon8282, @tonizza82, Ani Calinescu & @_rockt

▪️SOFAIR: led by Prof David Barber, with a world-leading team of Mirella Lapata, @yaringal and @LourdesAgapito

The best of UK academia, government and industry, together, to make fundamental advances in AI 🚀

https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-politics-2026-6-uk-invests-60m-in-two-university-led-ai-research-labs/

6:38 AM · Jun 24, 2026 · 15K Views

Harry Bostock@HarryBostock1

@KanishkaNarayan @bold_lab_ai @j_foerst About 4 orders of magnitude away from what is needed, to tackle this problem seriously.

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David Barber@davidobarber

Very proud to be leading the SOFAIR Lab https://www.ucl.ac.uk/engineering/sofair-lab with fantastic colleagues from UCL, Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge.

Kanishka Narayan MP@KanishkaNarayan

🚨 2 major new AI labs in the UK 🚨

3 months ago, we launched a £40m call for a fundamental AI lab in the UK.

Given the exceptional bids we received, we have doubled down: 2 new AI labs, £60m seed funding.

▪️@BOLD_LAB_AI: led by @j_foerst, with an exceptional team of @CULLYAntoine, @shimon8282, @tonizza82, Ani Calinescu & @_rockt

▪️SOFAIR: led by Prof David Barber, with a world-leading team of Mirella Lapata, @yaringal and @LourdesAgapito

The best of UK academia, government and industry, together, to make fundamental advances in AI 🚀

https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-politics-2026-6-uk-invests-60m-in-two-university-led-ai-research-labs/

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Luke D walton@LukeDwaltoldcg

@KanishkaNarayan @bold_lab_ai @j_foerst lol

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Cavit Erginsoy@caviterginsoy

@KanishkaNarayan @j_foerst @bold_lab_ai Did you write £60 million 💀

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Kieran 🥃🎶🐇@KGeorgee

@KanishkaNarayan @bold_lab_ai @j_foerst Congratulations to both.

Many more to come!

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Babak A@bobbynomics

@KanishkaNarayan @bold_lab_ai @j_foerst Amazing We are building an AI and Entrepreneurship campus in Bristol Running our first program in August Love to connect to grow UK AI and tech startup / scale up scene 🙏🏻🇬🇧😄

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AM Gbadebo@AMGbadebo

Open-source AI is the only sustainable path forward. Governments around the world should collaborate to build and support critical digital infrastructure that is not controlled by any single organisation.

The same principle applies to both AI and satellite communications. No single company should hold disproportionate influence over technologies that underpin global knowledge, communication, and economic activity.

This is the challenge we face with AI (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) and satellite communications (Starlink).

https://mothcloud.com/micropost/no-government-or-public-institution-should-use-or-invest-in/

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Scott Sage@scott_sage

@davidobarber @crane_vc Mega congrats to @davidobarber who has been building AI longer than most in the UK with relentless energy!! 🙏

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