UKTN | The Podcast

Emily Turner, CEO of HSBC Innovation Banking UK discusses what makes it a go-to bank for start-ups and how her natural optimism means she sees plenty to celebrate in the UK tech scene, from more and more deals happening outside London, to the impact of AI and why she thinks we should celebrate an influx of foreign capital.

The Right Honourable Ian Murray, MP and Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology discusses the challenges that lie ahead in implementing AI both in government and wider society. He explains why some projects were abandoned and how government procurement is now being refocused on frontier technologies.  
 
Murray talks about the practical applications of AI, from introducing AI tutors to help some of the most disadvantaged pupils and the call for edtech firms to help make that a reality to the ways the NHS is using the tech. The minister also discusses the “disappointing” decision from OpenAI to abandon its Stargate project but urges the sector to “concentrate on the 90% that is going really well”.

Yasmin Baba discusses pitching her early-stage health tech startup to a room full of men, how she coped with bootstrapping by “being a minimalist with big dreams” and how she believes that better data can bring down the half a million plus women on gynaecology waiting lists. Plus, why, as a machine learning engineer, she never says she runs an AI business.

Anna Wallace, CEO of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology discusses why so many SMEs fail to get the financing they need and what they can do to change this (listen to the very end to get this vital information). She also talks about how CFIT is helping to speed up the house-buying process and provide companies with a digital ID that could help combat fraud.

Tools for Humanity was co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman and provides ways to verify human identity with the belief that the only way to counteract fakery and misinformation is to prove our own humanity.  
The group’s chief policy officer Nick Pickles discusses the technology the firm uses, the new partnership the firm has just signed with Zoom, and his long history of policy-making, including working under Elon Musk at X. Plus we talk about how AI has created a new start-up culture and sense of urgency in Silicon Valley.