OpenAI · Anthropic · The Guardian Technology
UK government met 137 businesses over AI datacentres, but no environmental groups
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The UK’s policy on datacentres and AI was developed without any meetings with environmental groups, an investigation has found.
Key facts
- Over 12 months, Spotlight on Corruption filed 40 freedom of information requests to 18 government agencies, seeking details of meetings and investment figures relating to the government’s
- Chi Onwurah, the MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West, said the growing backlash, and the far larger opposition in the US, was a warning that the government needed to seek greater community
- Of the 38 senior officials who left government, nine were from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which has played a central role in shaping Britain’s AI strategy
- The UK’s policy on datacentres and AI was developed without any meetings with environmental groups, an investigation has found
Summary
The nonprofit organisation Spotlight on Corruption said a “considerable revolving door” shaped the government’s development of “AI growth zones”, a central plank of the former prime minister Keir Starmer’s AI and economic policy, with 38 ministers, senior civil servants and special advisers hired to positions in AI companies between July 2024 and September 2026. Meanwhile, even as top officials left government for jobs at OpenAI and Anthropic, government departments largely failed to engage meaningfully with stakeholders outside the technology industry. Kamila Kingstone, a campaign lead at the NGO, said: “The government totally failed at the most senior level to speak to environmental NGOs or community groups when developing its flagship policy on AI datacentres.