The UK government’s Sovereign AI Fund is to support Ineffable Intelligence, a new British AI company building algorithms that can learn for themselves and uncover new knowledge - instead of copying what humans already know.

The Sovereign AI fund is designed to help the UK’s most promising AI startups grow, scale and succeed.

Ineffable was founded by one of the world’s leading AI scientists David Silver and is developing a new generation of algorithms that learn through experience.

Instead of being trained only on vast amounts of existing data, these systems interact with their environment, test ideas, and improve over time, allowing them to discover new solutions and insights on their own.

Sovereign AI and the British Business Bank will co-invest in the AI firm.

Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: "Sovereign AI is our bet on Britain - we believe in this nation’s entrepreneurs and innovators and we are backing them to seize the benefits of AI for the UK.

"This investment in Ineffable will support a company at the very frontier of AI, with the potential to transform entire sectors, underlining our determination to ensure that the UK isn’t just an AI taker but an AI maker.

"It also demonstrates Sovereign AI moving at real speed – locking down its second direct investment in just a couple of months, while also securing a really effective partnership with the British Business Bank."

AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said: "David Silver is one of the world’s foremost AI leaders, now taking one of the world’s most innovative approaches to frontier AI. I am delighted that he is doing so right here in the UK, backed by the full support of the British state.

"With support from Sovereign AI and the British Business Bank, we are together showing what British AI can be: the best talent, backed by exceptional state capacity, building AI in Britain, changing the world with it."