Microsoft-commissioned report by Public First has found that the UK’s AI potential could boost GDP by £550 billion by 2035, enhancing productivity, skills, and innovation. Current key barriers include limited infrastructure, uneven digital adoption, and skills shortages. Investment in AI, cloud, data centres, and training can unlock economic and public sector value.

This report examines how wider adoption of generative AI by small and medium-sized
enterprises could drive regional and national growth, modelling the economic impact across West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region and the Cardiff Capital Region. It finds that while only around 18% of SMEs in these regions are currently using generative AI tools, adoption delivers measurable productivity gains - with survey evidence suggesting an average uplift of 10.46% - freeing up employee time for higher-value work. Full SME adoption could increase regional GVA by £4.6 billion in West Yorkshire, £2.8 billion in Liverpool City Region and £2.4 billion in Cardiff Capital Region by 2035 - equivalent to a £78.1 billion national boost if replicated UK-wide.

In February 2026, PublicFirst surveyed 1,000 UK businesses and modelled how four different TDM policy scenarios could specifically affect AI adoption and its contribution to GDP growth by 2035. They found that the most ‘innovation-forward’ scenario for AI adoption could contribute £510bn to UK GDP by 2035. However, this figure would fall to £290bn under the most restrictive scenario - an opt-in model requiring licenses for all copyrighted content. This £220bn difference is equivalent to Scotland's GDP and the entirety of NHS annual spending. The report identified Japan and Singapore as examples of best practice, and found that 77% of businesses using TDM expect a positive impact on their competitiveness if the UK keeps pace with the USA on data access and new AI technologies. 

Deloitte’s 2026 State of AI in the Enterprise report, based on a global survey of 3,235 senior leaders across 24 countries, finds that AI adoption is accelerating with workforce access to AI tools expanding by 50% in the past year. AI is already delivering measurable benefits: 66% of organisations report improvements in efficiency and productivity, 60% enhanced
decision-making, and 53% cost reductions. However, the report finds that much of AI’s
economic potential remains untapped, with Deloitte concluding that realising AI’s full value will require closing the gap between access and activation, investing in skills and
infrastructure, embedding robust governance frameworks, addressing sovereign AI requirements.

This 2024 report highlights AI’s potential to boost productivity across the private sector,
accelerate scientific discovery, and support innovation in high-growth industries, positioning the UK to strengthen its global competitiveness. Specifically, it outlines how AI could reduce NHS waiting times through earlier diagnosis and better triage, personalise education and support teachers with lesson planning and assessment, improve welfare administration, and
enhance policing and fraud detection through smarter data use.

The June 2025 CCIA/Europe Economics report found that without a commercial TDM exception, the UK risks losing 17-38% of planned AI investment in 2025, equivalent to £1-2 billion in AI and data-intensive sectors. TDM underpins AI training, large-scale data analysis, and innovation across healthcare, finance, law, and research. Surveys show 76% of UK AI stakeholders would reconsider investment if protections lag behind the EU, US, or Japan, while 66% would relocate projects abroad. Favorable TDM regimes are critical for capturing global AI investments, driving innovation, and maintaining UK competitiveness.

This CCIA survey found that generative AI is the fastest-adopted general-purpose technology in history, with around three-fifths of U.S. adults having used it within three years and ChatGPT remaining the most popular tool amid growing competition. Use is increasingly mainstream and positive: about two-fifths of adults use generative AI at work, reporting average productivity gains of 15%, strong employer support, and high favourability

This survey of 500 UK AI developers and investors found that AI development is overwhelmingly reliant on text and data mining of publicly available data - and that most respondents’ own work depends on models trained using these techniques. The findings warn that failing to introduce text and data mining protections comparable to the EU, US and Japan would damage the UK’s credibility and competitiveness, risk diverting AI projects abroad, and potentially delay deployment through added regulatory requirements.

In this briefing, the CCIA explains that text and data mining (TDM) involves analysing machine-readable material to train AI models or develop tools for organising data, with copyright exceptions allowing limited use of protected works. The government’s consultation is considering whether to extend TDM rights to commercial contexts to support the development of leading AI models domestically, following examples from the EU and other countries.

Japan’s 2019 “non-enjoyment” TDM exception contrasts EU rules, which are narrow and licensing-heavy. Japan allows TDM whenever the work is used purely for technical or analytical purposes, not for human enjoyment. This includes training AI models, extracting statistical features, and identifying patterns in text, images, or sound. The paper argues that Japan’s approach better supports generative AI innovation, offering a flexible legal framework that facilitates research and AI development, unlike restrictive EU regimes.

A Centre for British Progress briefing argues the UK risks losing £29.9 billion over five years under an AI copyright opt-out model. Introducing a text and data mining (TDM) exception would enable UK firms to train AI models competitively, attract investment, boost innovation, and secure the UK’s position as a global AI leader.

In a paper Adam Buick outlines that key countries like the EU, US, Japan, Singapore, and Israel have introduced copyright exceptions enabling AI training without prior permissions, reflecting the impracticality of licensing billions of data points. Buick argues AI models encode patterns rather than reproduce works, producing new outputs without “substantial similarity.” Restricting access would stifle innovation, economic growth, and equity, as only wealthy firms could afford licenses. Broad data access serves the public interest, supporting AI-driven societal and economic gains, with PwC and IDC estimating up to $15.7 trillion global GDP growth by 2030.

In this Onward column, Matthew Lesh argues that while the UK leads in AI research, outdated copyright law - especially the lack of a clear commercial text and data mining exemption - is pushing AI training, investment and talent overseas, undermining the government’s “AI superpower” ambition. He contends that a broad or carefully designed opt-out TDM exemption would keep the UK competitive, as opt-in licensing or restrictive rules would drive developers offshore, limit access to advanced AI tools, and ultimately harm both the tech and creative sectors.

A 2024 Google Cloud-commissioned report by Public First looked into the potential value of generative AI tools for the public sector. It found that greater use of generative AI could save up to £38 billion across the public sector by 2030 whilst freeing up time for public sector
workers and improving the quality of services. Importantly, AI tools were found to
overwhelmingly complement the public sector workforce. Realising these benefits will require legal and regulatory clarity, access to better structured datasets, and training to give public sector workers the skills for AI adoption.

Published in January 2025, the AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out the government’s strategy for establishing a thriving domestic AI ecosystem that drives economic growth and transforms public services. To unlock these benefits, the plan identifies clear steps the government should take to develop AI infrastructure, support AI adoption and establish a pro-innovation regulatory environment that enables responsible AI development.

In January 2026, Startup Coalition - the voice of UK startups and scale ups - delivered a first-of-its-kind report examining the UK’s AI startup and scaleup landscape. The report profiles the top 1,000 firms in the UK’s AI sector, finding that they have raised over £20 billion and command combined valuations exceeding £45 billion. The Index lays the groundwork to help policymakers understand which sectors are thriving, where geographic clusters are emerging, what founders are experiencing, and, crucially, where policy interventions can have the greatest impact.