At this year’s Birmingham Tech Week, the West Midlands region laid down a defiant marker when it comes to AI: “We don’t want to be a follower – we want to set the pace.”
It’s a confident statement and one that’s said with substance. The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) used Birmingham Tech Week to officially unveil its Artificial Intelligence Missions document, which sets out how the region is leading in experimentation and adoption of AI.
By embedding AI into the region’s wider Growth Plan, which was announced back in July, the WMCA is making AI intrinsic to its £47 billion growth journey.
The authority has several key missions. These include:
- Making the West Midlands the UK’s AI test bed for public services and business innovation, increasing AI-related R&D funding and maintaining its position as the UK’s second most investable region
- Supporting companies across all sectors to adopt AI responsibly and effectively, ensuring that at least 60% of businesses are adopting AI technologies
- Implementing its AI Academy (also officially launched during Birmingham Tech Week) approach, by ensuring all residents and workforces can access high-quality AI training.
The AI Academy – unlocking growth
The AI Academy is being billed as an important mechanism to unlocking growth and vital funding in the region. What’s more, the West Midlands wants to be the first region to have an AI Skills Entitlement, making ‘AI for All’, whether that’s in the community, in business, or across public services.
It isn’t holding back in its ambitions. The West Midlands means business when it comes to AI. But what does this mean for businesses themselves?
What is holding us back?
Recent research conducted as part of our report The Critical AI Window shows that less than a third (31%) of organisations are using GenAI, with only 22% seeing it as high value. With clear momentum on the side of the WMCA and its own AI agenda, what’s holding businesses back?
The main concerns around AI centre on bias and inaccuracy, safety risks such as cyber attacks, the evolving regulatory and compliance landscape, as well as the potential impact on the future of employment.
Surprisingly, given the concerns, less than a third of survey respondents have a risk mitigation strategy in place, despite 83% fearing they won’t meet regulatory compliance.
Huge potential
There’s little doubt about the potential of AI and the opportunities it will bring, particularly for the early ‘innovators’. The path is also set for more businesses to follow in the WMCA’s footsteps by fully embracing AI and what it could mean for future productivity in the region.
So, what are the practical steps that Midlands businesses can take to stay on track when it comes to AI?
- Take a fresh look at current policies with today’s challenges in mind
- Map collaborative processes to align teams and stop checks falling through the gaps between silos
- Create a decision-making blueprint so AI meets organisational goals and ethics
- Record why decisions are made, ensuring accuracy for regulators, customers and stakeholders
- Develop an AI solutions matrix, providing an overarching understanding of AI use internally
- Get into the details of contracts for AI implementation and usage to spot red flags
- Continue to prioritise culture, as great people and their creative thinking are as valuable as ever
- Embed safe AI practices with training
- Inspire with leadership, by providing clarity on use cases and by upskilling with new solutions
- Treat every element of fast-moving GenAI – from compliance to accuracy to effectiveness – as a continuous, measured cycle.
AI has such huge potential for driving innovation and growth that missing out on that is a risk itself in a highly competitive world. The key is to be confident in your approach, putting those all-important guardrails in place, so that you can make the most of the possibilities AI unlocks.
