Natwest makes first VC fund bet in push to back British tech September 23, 2026 Natwest has made its first direct investment into an independently managed venture capital fund, joining a push by some of Britain’s biggest financial institutions to funnel more domestic money into UK tech companies. The banking giant is investing across top venture capital firm Phoenix Court’s Localglobe, Latitude and Solar funds, which back companies from their [...]
UK to champion global AI rulebook during G20 presidency September 23, 2026 Andy Burnham has said governments, not tech companies, must make the biggest decisions about AI, as he pledged to put AI regulation at the heart of Britain’s G20 presidency. The Prime Minister used his first address to the United Nations General Assembly to call for a single set of global standards governing frontier AI, including [...]
Palantir policing pullback driven by funding as eastern pilot pushes on September 23, 2026 Palantir’s loss of a five-force policing pilot was driven by a combination of funding pressures and an assessment of the project, City AM understands. While the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) will end its two-year trial of Palantir’s Foundry software this month, the US tech firm’s work with a separate consortium of forces in [...]
Mercedes rides the AI Wayve with self-driving deal September 22, 2026 Mercedes-Benz will put British start-up Wayve’s self-driving technology into its cars within two years, handing the London AI firm its third major production deal in less than nine months. The German carmaker has signed a production agreement to integrate Wayve’s AI Driver into future models, allowing cars to handle point-to-point journeys through cities with advanced [...]
OpenAI and Anthropic summoned to parliament on fears UK AI rules ‘not fit for future’ September 22, 2026 OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Deepmind and Meta have been summoned to an urgent parliamentary hearing on AI safety, as MPs warn Britain’s rules around the technology are “not yet fit for the future”. Liam Byrne, chair of the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, has invited senior representatives from all four AI giants to appear before [...]
Burnham and Trump strike UK-US defence AI deal September 22, 2026 Britain will link its military AI taskforce with its US counterpart under a new defence pact, deepening transatlantic tech ties as AI plays a growing role on the battlefield. The UK’s Defence Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce will work with the US Department of War’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to accelerate the deployment of [...]
Nscale vows stay in UK despite £35bn US stock market listing September 22, 2026 Nscale has vowed to keep Britain at the heart of its global expansion despite choosing New York over London for its blockbuster float, as the AI infrastructure firm looks to turn its UK base into an export hub for computing power. The Nvidia-backed firm believes jobs and expertise built in Britain can serve customers around [...]
Ban non-compete clauses to ‘boost Britain’s fastest growing firms’ September 22, 2026 Rising hiring costs and difficulties recruiting talent are making it harder for Britain’s most promising companies to grow, with three quarters saying they could create at least 10 per cent more jobs if barriers to expansion were removed. New research from Enterprise Britain found the cost of employing staff has become one of the main [...]
OpenAI’s rogue AI acted ‘like uni students after too many beers’ September 21, 2026 The rogue AI agents behind OpenAI’s unprecedented Hugging Face cyber attack behaved like “university students who’ve had too many beers”, a cyber expert told City AM, saying the breach was more a triumph of persistence than intelligence. Charl van der Walt, global head of security research at Orange Cyberdefense, said that despite the alarm triggered [...]
Tony Blair warns leaders to resist growing AI ‘techlash’ September 21, 2026 Tony Blair has warned governments against bowing to a growing “techlash” over AI, arguing that slowing adoption could leave countries poorer and less secure as concerns over the technology mount. A report from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), published on Monday, said political leaders in the US and UK were facing growing pressure to hold [...]
