Month: June 2023

The US company behind ChatGPT has said its first international office will be based in London.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the move was an “opportunity to attract world-class talent”.
It comes after he criticised the EU’s proposed legislation regulating artificial intelligence (AI), which would require companies to reveal the content used to train their systems.
The UK meanwhile is planning what it calls “pro-innovation” regulation.
“We are thrilled to extend our research and development footprint into London, a city globally renowned for its rich culture and exceptional talent pool,” said Diane Yoon, OpenAI VP of People.”We are eager to build dynamic teams in research [and] engineering… to reinforce our efforts in creating and promoting safe AI.”
When ChatGPT burst onto the scene last November, the chatbot’s ability to give human-sounding answers to questions kickstarted intense global interest in the latest AI-powered products.
It also sparked a debate about what threats AI potentially poses – and what regulation is needed to mitigate those risks.
At an event at University College London in May, Mr Altman said he believed AI could create jobs and reduce inequality.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said at the event that AI could “positively transform humanity” and “deliver better outcomes for the British public, with emerging opportunities in a range of areas to improve public services”.
ChatGPT has proven controversial, being briefly banned in Italy before it was restored in April 2023.
The UK government said it has invested £2.5bn in AI since 2014.
Speaking about the news, Chloe Smith, the Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, said: “OpenAI’s decision to expand into London as their first international office is another vote of confidence for Britain as an AI powerhouse and, in OpenAI’s own words, for our vibrant technology ecosystem and exceptional talent.
“Our AI sector already employs more than 50,000 people across the country, and we will continue to foster an approach which unlocks opportunity and cements our place as a global destination for artificial intelligence.”
Read more:
ChatGPT owner OpenAI to open first foreign office in UK

New research has revealed that two million UK small and medium-sized businesses have started on the road to making their business fit for net zero.
Over a quarter of SMEs have ‘green intentions’ and are currently assessing their sustainability goals. Meanwhile, one in 10 SMEs  could be described as ‘greening’, being further along in the journey to transition.
Time, investment and understanding stand in the way of greening the UK economy
Despite the fact that many SMEs are beginning to explore their role in the nation’s transformation, it is not always easy for them to find the time and money to ensure the country meets its ambitious goals. On average, SMEs spend about 15 hours a year considering their approach to sustainability. While one quarter of SME decision-makers see sustainability as a key priority for the next 12 months, it is one of the least prioritised areas for investment.
The Index has also raised concerns that not all SMEs are aware of the necessary details to make change. A significant number of leaders did not fully understand certain concepts such as carbon offset, net zero and carbon neutral.
SMEs want lawmakers and large businesses to take the lead
Nearly two-thirds of SMEs looking to ‘go green’, agree that small businesses play a significant role in how the UK tackles climate change, but even more feel that strong government legislation needs to be in place to support this.
Seven out of 10 SME decision-makers think large businesses need to tackle the issue first.
Fears for the financial sustainability of going green
One in four SMEs believe that sustainable choices can also lead to better business decisions.
However, a similar number fear that implementing a sustainability strategy could pose difficulties for their business, impacting profits and operations. This is particularly true of businesses that are in sectors that will mostly need to reform to meet new green standards, such as manufacturing and agriculture.
However, SME leaders are still keen to ‘go green’. One in five small businesses are willing to accept a lower profit margin to run their business in a more sustainable way.
Tim Boag, group managing director of business finance at Aldermore comments: “SMEs represent 99% of all private sector businesses in the UK2, so they will be absolutely pivotal in our transition to net zero. However, our Green Index shows that despite the best intentions of SME leaders there are significant barriers to making the leap. SMEs are asking for regulations and guidelines so they can make prudent investments and carry out improvements that will actually make a difference.
“For businesses that do embrace change, there can be commercial opportunities. We’ve seen many of our customers pivot or diversify into exciting new areas which meet the growing demand for greener solutions. A recent example is where Aldermore provided a loan to a waste recycling company for a Gas Energy Recovery Incinerator, which recovers and reuses incineration gas.”
Read more:
Just 40% of UK SMEs have started on their transition to being a sustainable business

The West Midlands has cemented its reputation as a global investment hotspot, emerging as the UK’s top regional location for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) outside London.
The region has recorded the highest annual growth rate of all UK locations.
According to official data from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), 181 FDI projects landed in the region during the 2022/23 financial year – more projects than Scotland and Wales combined and overtaking the South East for the first time. This represents over 10% of the UK’s total FDI wins (1,654) – the largest share of all UK regions outside the capital. With 8,252 jobs created by overseas investors during the same period – a 48% increase compared to 2021/2022 – the West Midlands also bucked the national trend of a decline in FDI-related jobs.
The last financial year also saw the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC) – the region’s official investment promotion agency – achieving a record-high performance, with recorded projects representing an unprecedented 171% increase on last year.
The Business and Tourism Programme (BATP), the first programme of its kind established to boost the economic impact of the Commonwealth Games, has played a key role in boosting the region’s inward investment performance.
Over the last year, BATP-led trade and investment missions to India; Australia, Malaysia and Singapore and the US have enabled the region to strengthen existing trade ties and reach into new markets to increase its inward investment pipeline. In particular, over the last twelve months, India has overtaken the US to become the West Midlands’ leading source of FDI, with tech-led investments into the region representing a prominent trend.
One third of WMGC’s portfolio of inward investment projects in 2022/23 were secured as a direct result of the Global Growth Programme – a support package – led by WMGC – to help international companies kickstart their growth journey in the UK. These include international payments solutions provider, Fincra; Singapore-based RegTech company, Primacy; India-based EdTech company, Mind & Matter; India’s first plastic credit platform, The Disposal Company, and Canada-based pan-African fintech company, Kora.
Matt Hammond, Chair of the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), said: “Despite the wave of shocks that have faced the global economy over the last year, these latest FDI figures are a reminder that investment appetite in the West Midlands remains extremely strong. It shows the mileage and impact of the West Midlands on the world stage when the right interventions – such as the Business and Tourism Programme – are in place.
“The West Midlands’ impressive figures buck the national trend of declining jobs and outstrip all of the UK when it comes to FDI job growth – including London. They are a demonstration of WMGC’s award-winning investment strategy in practice, as we continue to strengthen ties with key markets to the benefit of local people”.
As part of the £1.5 billion Deeper Devolution Deal, WMGC will co-develop a bespoke West Midlands international strategy in conjunction with DBT. This will help us to supercharge the legacy of the Games by opening up new overseas markets for West Midlands products and bring millions of pounds worth of foreign direct investment into the region.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “We all know just how important inward investment is to the success of the West Midlands economy, and so it really is brilliant news that this latest data shows how we are the strongest performing region.
“Not only does this mean that our industrial heritage, entrepreneurial culture, world-class universities and a broad and deep talent pool is setting the West Midlands apart in the eyes of overseas investors, but it also means thousands of quality jobs are being created right here for local people.
“There could not be a greater vote of confidence in the region than investors putting their money on the table in the way they have this past year, but it is critical now that we keep up this momentum and continue to build on the global platform that the Commonwealth Games gave us.”
The strength of the West Midlands’ FDI strategy was recently recognised at fDi Intelligence European Cities and Regions of the Future 2023, where Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry & Warwickshire all secured top-three rankings. The rankings benchmark European cities and regions according to their economic, financial, and business strengths.
Read more:
West Midlands tops regional rankings for foreign investment and sees highest growth in the UK 

Apple has criticised powers in the Online Safety Bill that could be used to force encrypted messaging tools like iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal to scan messages for child abuse material.
Its intervention comes as 80 organisations and tech experts have written to Technology Minister Chloe Smith urging a rethink on the powers.
Apple has said that the bill should be amended to protect encryption.
The government says companies must prevent child abuse on their platforms.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) stops anyone but the sender and recipient reading the message.
Police, the government and some high-profile child protection charities maintain the tech – used in apps such as WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage – prevents law enforcement and the firms themselves from identifying the sharing of child sexual abuse material.
But in a statement Apple said: “End-to-end encryption is a critical capability that protects the privacy of journalists, human rights activists, and diplomats.
“It also helps everyday citizens defend themselves from surveillance, identity theft, fraud, and data breaches. The Online Safety Bill poses a serious threat to this protection, and could put UK citizens at greater risk.
“Apple urges the government to amend the bill to protect strong end-to-end encryption for the benefit of all.”
But the government has said that “companies should only implement end-to-end encryption if they can simultaneously prevent abhorrent child sexual abuse on their platforms.
“We will continue to work with them to seek solutions to combat the spread of child sexual abuse material while maintaining user privacy.”
The Online Safety Bill, currently going through Parliament, contains powers that could enable communications regulator Ofcom to direct platforms to use accredited technology to scan the contents of messages.
The government said these powers would only be used as “a last resort, and only when stringent privacy safeguards have been met”.
Recently Home Office ministers have also been highly critical of Facebook’s roll-out of the tech for messaging.
Several messaging platforms, including Signal and WhatsApp, have previously told media they will refuse to weaken the privacy of their encrypted messaging systems if directed to do so.
Signal said in February that it would “walk” from the UK if forced to weaken the privacy of its encrypted messaging app.
Apple’s statement now means that some of the most widely used encrypted apps oppose this part of the bill.
The government argues it is possible to provide technological solutions that mean the contents of encrypted messages can be scanned for child abuse material.
The only way of doing that, many tech experts argue, would be to install software that would scan messages on the phone or computer before they are sent, called client-side scanning.
This, critics say, would fundamentally undermine the privacy of messages.
In 2021 Apple announced plans to scan photographs on people’s iPhones for abusive content before they were uploaded to iCloud but these were abandoned after a backlash. It has now clearly signalled its opposition to any measure that weakens the privacy of end-to-end encryption.
‘Routine scanning’
Its announcement comes as the digital civil liberties campaigners The Open Rights Group sent an open letter to minister Chloe Smith.
The letter, signed by more than 80 national and international civil society organisations, academics and cyber-experts, says: “The UK could become the first liberal democracy to require the routine scanning of people’s private chat messages, including chats that are secured by end-to-end encryption.
“As over 40 million UK citizens and 2 billion people worldwide rely on these services, this poses a significant risk to the security of digital communication services not only in the UK, but also internationally.”
Element, a British tech company whose products using E2EE are used by government and military clients, has previously told the BBC measures in the bill that are seen to weaken the privacy of encrypted messages would make customers less trustful of security products produced by UK firms.
There is a growing expectation, the BBC has learned, that changes may be made to part of the bill which critics say could be used to mandate scanning. These could be included in a package of amendments to be revealed in the coming days.
But it is not clear what the detail of those changes might be, or if they will satisfy the concerns of campaigners.
Read more:
Apple joins opposition to Online Safety Bill and message app scanning

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt should cut companies’ national insurance contributions and make the temporary business investment tax relief permanent, an influential think tank has argued in a radical blueprint to overhaul the UK’s tax regime.
Employers’ should be subjected to a 12.8 per cent national insurance levy, one percentage point lower than the present rate, according to a report out today from the Resolution Foundation.
Reducing reliance on generating tax revenues from earnings would stimulate employment and help the UK reverse its more than decade-long stagnant economic growth, the think tank has claimed.
Making the current 100 per cent investment tax relief permanent would incentivise businesses to ramp up capital spending and create more opportunities for GDP growth to flourish, the report argues.
Britain’s tax burden – tax revenues as a share of output – is on track to hit 38 per cent in five years, its highest levels since just after the second world war, up from an average of 33 per cent over the past two decades or so.
That will amount to a near £4,200 tax increase per household.
As a result, policymakers need to focus on delivering a more effective tax regime to justify the Treasury grabbing a greater share of voters’ incomes.
“This rising quantity of tax revenue has not been matched by a rising quality of tax policy,” Adam Corlett, principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, said.
“Britain’s tax system needs a complete overhaul so that it is focused on helping rather than hindering economic growth, reducing inequality and creating a level playing field,” he added.
Politicians must stop chopping and changing tax policy or risk choking business growth, innovation and employment, the report said.
Last year, former PM Liz Truss launched the biggest tax cutting budget since 1972, only for nearly all her measures to be ditched by now Chancellor Jeremy Hunt a month or so later after the package wobbled financial markets.
In 2021, Boris Johnson and Sunak raised national insurance rates 1.25 percentage points. The move was canned by Truss upon entry to Number 10.
“U-turns and fiscal fudging have been too common, and reform side-lined too often,” the Resolution Foundation said, adding that MPs have decided to “pretend a major tax-cutting era is just around the corner” instead of focusing on “improving the economic efficiency, equity and predictability of the tax system”.
Read more:
Rishi Sunak should cut national insurance and make investment relief permanent, think tank report argues

Fresh calls have been made to reinstate VAT-free shopping for international tourists, after the chief of Mulberry warned its profits have been hit hard by it as they ditch London for Paris and Milan.
Pre-tax profit at the British handbag maker fell to £13.2m in the year to April, down from £21.3m the prior year.
Thierry Andretta, boss of the luxury fashion brand, has been vocal in recent years about the damage the removal of the offer has had on the sector, telling the Evening Standard, on today he had “no doubt” that the abolition impacted its profits.
“There is no doubt that the lack of VAT-free shopping has impacted our UK performance, and we, along with other British brands, are suffering the consequences of this,” the chief said.

Rishi Sunak scrapped the tax which saw international shoppers to claim 20 per cent back with their purchases – it was largely popular with wealthy tourists who would travel to London to splurge on designer goods.
As international tourism picks up post Covid-19, concerns are growing that the removal of the scheme will send international travellers to choose elsewhere when planning a foreign shopping trip.
Dee Corsi, chief executive at the New West End said that the “tourist tax” is a drag on the economy, “undermining the home advantage of great British brands”.
“Data from VisitBritain shows nearly half of long-haul travellers see shopping as one of their priorities. The West End and its retailers have been recovering strongly since the pandemic, but until this misguided tax is removed we’ll be letting opportunity slip through our fingers.”
Members of the House of Lords also warned last month that International tourists are spending more in Europe than in the UK. 
“US tourists who are going to France, Spain and Italy are spending at the rate of three times what they did in 2019… our retailers are really struggling and they need and they deserve a level playing field,” Baroness Elizabeth Doocey said at the time.

Read more:
Mulberry chief calls for ‘tourist tax’ to be scrapped as London brands “suffering” as shoppers go elsewhere

Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has signed an agreement on financial services cooperation with Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, which will help to establish a constructive, mutually beneficial relationship between the UK and the EU in financial services.
This comes as the Chancellor is in Brussels for a series of meetings with European Commissioners, in the first visit from a UK Chancellor in over three years. Commissioner McGuinness is the European Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and capital markets union.
The Memorandum of Understanding signifies an important step in UK/EU relations post-Brexit. The UK is a leading global hub of financial services – of the £11 trillion of assets managed in the UK in 2020, around 44 per cent is on behalf of international investors including the EU.
The agreement will establish an ongoing forum for the UK and the EU to discuss voluntary regulatory cooperation on financial services issues. Both sides will share information, work together towards meeting joint challenges and coordinate positions where appropriate on issues ahead of G7, G20 and other international meetings.
The UK and the EU committed to the Memorandum of Understanding alongside the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. It adds to the growing number of regulatory cooperation arrangements the UK already has with major financial sector partners including the U.S., Japan and Singapore.
Responding to the news Laimonas Noreika, CEO, HeavyFinance said, “Enabling greater economic cooperation between with UK and the EU is critical for driving growth, tackling surging inflation and addressing the climate change emergency. In a challenging economic climate, businesses across these markets need access to crucial financial support and investment to hire fresh talent, reduce their emissions and develop a cleaner, leaner working model.
“This simply cannot be achieved without the financial systems in place to enable a regular flow of funding. This agreement is a step in the right direction to further expanding international collaboration in the financial services industry and will play a vital role in helping businesses transform for the better,” he added.
Fintech entrepreneur Khalid Talukder, co-founder of DKK Partners said: “The UK’s financial services industry is a major driver of growth and building stronger links with the EU is in our national and economic interest. This agreement is another major step forward in develop a blueprint for a truly prosperous post-Brexit Britain, that has strong links with the substantial EU marketplace, but also has the ability to trade internationally in other parts of the world.
“In the face of stubborn inflation and rising interest rates, giving businesses a trade boost should be a top priority for the government this year and beyond,” added Talukder.
Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “The UK and EU’s financial markets are deeply interconnected and building a constructive, voluntary relationship is of mutual benefit to us both.
“In the UK, our financial services sector is a true British success story. Together with the related professional services sector it was worth £275bn last year, making up an estimated 12 per cent of the British economy.
“This agreement with our European partners as sovereign equals builds on our arrangements with the U.S., Japan and Singapore, helping to support the sector’s role as a global financial services hub.”
While the Chancellor is in Brussels he will also be meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis (European Commission Executive Vice-President responsible for an Economy that Works for People, also in charge of Trade) and Margrethe Vestager (European Commission Executive Vice-President for ‘A Europe Fit for the Digital Age and Competition). He will discuss the UK’s competitiveness and growth, the EU’s Green Deal Industrial Plan and economic security.
Read more:
UK Chancellor signs financial services agreement with EU

Healthy foods business Foodhak is successfully designing nutritious meals by using generative AI to process the results of more than 200,000 clinical health trials, it has announced.
In a world first, the trailblazing company is now at the forefront of utilising state-of-the-art artificial intelligence techniques to perfect its foods which have medicinal benefits.

It has developed proprietary data pipelines which output hyper-specialised health research data sets from hundreds of thousands of academic sources to design wellbeing foods which can target specific diseases and deficiencies.

This machine learning approach means Foodhak can assemble foods with smart ingredient swaps to promote longevity and make active recommendations on what someone should be eating based on their health and life goals. It hopes to soon have data from more than one million trial results to embed into its food production and recipes – and to help design even more precise, personalised diet plans.

Evidence has been unearthed from prestigious publications including The Lancet, The British Medical Journal and New England Journal of Medicine. Foodhak nutritionists learnt from one study how to use cinnamon to reduce period pain while another linked pomegranate to longevity and highlighted turmeric’s anti-aging effects.

This approach has helped the company to achieve growth figures of 100% year-on-year and to unveil a healthy selection of AI-designed snacks like cookies, which incorporate ancient herb ashwagandha and a range of seeded omega and millet crackers containing more omega than most supplement pills.

The super-healthy snacks are the brainchild of entrepreneur and mother-of-two Sakshi Chhabra Mittal, who came up with the concept for the company after fighting off disease herself by changing her diet.

Sakshi said: “Foodhak has constructed its own proprietary model which uses generative artificial intelligence to process hundreds of thousands of clinical health trial findings.

“AI enables us to use evidential data sets with precision and to help us construct new recipes and products, with smart ingredient swaps to target health problems and improve wellbeing, accurately using food as medicine.

“This revolutionary approach is unique and no-one is utilising such huge swathes of data to improve nutrition and wellbeing. We hope to soon have more than one million hyper-specialised data sets which we can further use to laser-focus our products, recipes and personalised diet plans.

“Foodhak was founded on the idea that on one hand, food could be deeply nourishing, healing and restorative, and on the other, it could taste incredible and that the food you eat can, and should, make you happier, healthier, and even help you live longer. Artificial intelligence has enabled us to hone this approach and give unrivalled accuracy and results.”

Foodhak’s UK-wide subscribers receive a weekly box with premium, fine ready-to-eat meals for the week, clinically approved by nutritionists. They all contain low GI, are anti-inflammatory, alkaline, free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar.  An estimated 90,000 deaths in the UK each year are attributed to poor diet – 11 million globally – with many diseases originating in the gut.

Sakshi added: “We can use this technology to recreate any meal, as indulgent as a pizza or a brownie and tweaks the recipes with smart ingredient swaps to make it delicious but add value to your health.  Adults and children alike love these snacks and they are full of goodness and taste -they don’t have to be guilty pleasures any longer. We believe this is the future of food – and the key to longevity.

“The food we are surrounded by is wrong and is pushing us towards developing chronic diseases and we are also working on clinical trials to show disease reversals for diabetes, high cholesterol and other such lifestyle diseases which are killing many people.”
Read more:
Foodhak uses artificial intelligence to scour 200,000 clinical health trials and perfect its meals

Supermarket executives are being questioned by MPs over why food prices are still rising as some wholesale costs are falling.
The UK’s biggest grocers – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – are facing a parliamentary committee examining the cost of a weekly shop.
The price of goods continues to grow but not as steeply as in recent months, according to the latest figures.
Food inflation reached 14.6% in June, the British Retail Consortium said.
That is down from 15.4% in the year to May, but it does not mean prices are falling, just that they are rising at a slower pace.
British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “If the current situation continues, food inflation should drop to single digits later this year.”
However, food prices remain a key reason why the overall rate of inflation in the UK remains stubbornly high.
And with many hard-pressed households also facing rising rents or mortgage costs, there is pressure on the supermarkets to defend the high cost of shopping.
On Tuesday, MPs will grill senior supermarket bosses about food and fuel price inflation, asking if prices will come down this year.
Politicians, trades unionists and the governor of the Bank of England have all questioned why prices on supermarket shelves have not fallen as rapidly as the cost of some ingredients such as wheat.
They have suggested that retailers may be failing to pass on savings and are banking the profit instead.
The Competition and Markets Authority is examining the issue.
Supermarkets deny they are profiteering from high prices and claim their profits are being squeezed.
The grocers say they are cutting prices where they can, arguing falls in commodity prices take time to filter through to the consumer.
Most of the big chains have recently introduced high profile price cuts to staples, with Sainsbury’s on Monday the latest to announce it was investing £15m to reduce the cost of basics such as rice, pasta and chicken.
Tesco, Morrisons, M&S, Aldi and Lidl have all reduced prices on basic foods such as bread, milk and butter in the past few months.
However, some items such as milk and eggs remain relatively expensive compared to pre-Covid prices.
“These latest price cuts will help reassure customers that we will continue to pass on savings as soon as we see the wholesale price of food fall,” said Rhian Bartlett, food commercial director at Sainsbury’s, and one of the executives due to appear before MPs on Tuesday.
As well as pointing to recent price cuts, the executives are likely to tell the committee that not all commodities have been falling in price, said Ged Futter, a retail analyst and former senior buying manager at Asda.
“Yes, prices have come down for some things, but other things have gone up like sugar, potatoes [and] chocolate,” he said.
Wheat, which has fallen in price on global markets, is largely supplied from UK growers, and food manufacturers will still be buying last year’s crop at last year’s prices, Mr Futter said.
“They won’t get a new price until they get into a new contract. Just because prices have gone down globally that doesn’t mean the price here goes down immediately,” he said.
Similarly, cheese sold today has been made with milk bought up to 12 months ago, so won’t reflect recent falls in milk prices, he said.
Jamie Keeble, co-founder of sausage and burger maker Heck which supplies most of the major supermarkets, told the BBC’s Today programme that the price of pork was expected to remain high for the next 18 months.
He said the only way supermarkets could lower their prices was by asking suppliers to cut costs, but he added: “We’re certainly not in the position to start giving cost decreases on our products.
“At the end of the day, [the supermarkets] are going to have to take a cut in their margins if they really want to lower the prices on the shelf, that’s the only way to do it.”
The British Retail Consortium has previously said there is typically a three- to nine-month lag for price falls to be reflected in shops.
Mr Futter thinks supermarket executives will point to other costs affecting food retail, from rising wages to the added charges related to Brexit, such as veterinary certificates.
A study by academics at the London School of Economics last month found nearly a third of food price inflation since 2019 was due to Brexit.
Read more:
Supermarkets questioned by MP’s to explain explain high prices