The UK government announced its response to the AI regulation white paper on Monday at Cohere’s London offices. This is the most comprehensive UK policy announcement on AI since the launch of the white paper and the Safety Summit declaration in November 2023. It demonstrates the UK government’s ongoing commitment to building a pro-innovation regulatory administration that acknowledges the importance of AI safety and risk mitigation.

The UK government unveiled a regulatory framework that realizes the immense benefits of AI, but ensures safe and responsible development of the technology. This announcement included a ministerial visit from the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, the Right Honorable Michelle Donelan MP, who toured Cohere’s London office, met senior team members, and conducted a Q&A with co-founder and CEO, Aidan Gomez. She also had the opportunity to try the technology first-hand during a product demonstration of Cohere’s breakthrough retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology.

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Michelle Donelan said: “The UK is brimming with world-class tech talent, and we have firmly established ourselves as one of the major global AI destinations. Cohere’s presence in London is not only a recognition of that fact, it is also a major validation of our wider pro-innovation approach to AI. I was able to witness first-hand how their expertise is helping to fuel our drive towards new developments in this global technology, and our approach will continue to ensure the world’s AI community sees the UK as the beating heart of AI innovation.”

Established in 2022, Cohere’s London office is a key research hub for the company. Cohere’s London presence has grown to about 10% of the company’s global workforce and is the home office for Chief Scientist Phil Blunsom. The company is planning to expand Cohere’s footprint in the UK by doubling its headcount in 2024, as announced late last year. Cohere sees the UK as an important market, both for recruiting top-tier AI/ML talent and opportunities to work with prominent enterprise customers.

“It's really important that we get AI regulation right in a way that both fosters innovation and responsible development. The UK is an important tech and research hub for Cohere, and we remain committed to working with the government to build a platform that helps enterprises unlock the benefits of AI,” said Aidan Gomez.

As the leading AI platform for enterprise Cohere looks forward to continuing to work with the UK government in steering the future of responsible AI development.