Weekly UK AI News Roundup and a Global overview of AI News: Jan 31st, 2026
Publish Date: Last Updated: 31st January 2026
Author: nick smith- With the help of Google Gemini
🇬🇧 United Kingdom: The "Delivery & Adoption" Pivot
This week marked the one-year anniversary of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, shifting the government's focus from planning to nationwide scaling.
- Public Sector Expansion: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced the nationwide rollout of AI diagnostic tools and digital assistants across the NHS and local councils. A newly established Sovereign AI Unit has begun deploying funds to scale UK-based AI startups.
- The 10 Million Skill Initiative: The government expanded its AI Skills Hub, aiming to upskill 10 million workers by 2030. New "AI degrees" and graduate traineeships were launched this week under the £27m TechLocal scheme.
- Financial Services Review: The FCA officially launched the Mills Review on January 27. It investigates how "agentic AI" (AI that acts on your behalf) will change retail banking and insurance, with new consumer protection rules expected by year-end.
- Creative Content Exchange: A pilot platform, involving the BBC and National Archives, launched on January 30. It acts as a "trusted marketplace" for AI developers to license high-quality, digitised British cultural data for model training.
🌍 Global Overview: Agents and Physical AI
Globally, the conversation has moved past "chatting" to AI that can drive cars, run factories, and shop for you.
- The "ChatGPT Moment" for Robotics: At the end of January, Boston Dynamics and Hyundai confirmed the successful field test of the electric "Atlas" robot. It is now moving into full production (30,000 units/year) to perform autonomous warehouse tasks.
- Apple & Google's Mega-Deal: Strategic details surfaced regarding Apple’s integration of Google Gemini into Siri. This partnership effectively places Google’s AI at the core of nearly 90% of the UK and US mobile markets.
- Browser-Based Agents: Amazon entered early access for Alexa+ for the Web, moving the assistant out of smart speakers and directly into browser-based workflows. Similarly, Google began rolling out GenTabs, a browser agent that can synthesize information across dozens of open tabs.
- Regulatory Showdowns: In the US, a new AI Litigation Task Force was created to challenge state-level AI laws (like California’s recent TFAIA) that the federal government deems too restrictive for innovation.
- AI for the "Physical World": NVIDIA launched Alpamayo 1, a massive 10-billion parameter model specifically designed for autonomous driving. It is being integrated into Mercedes-Benz’s 2026 fleet to handle complex "Chain-of-Thought" reasoning on the road.
Key Takeaway for the Week
The "novelty phase" of AI is officially over. Whether it's the UK government training millions of workers or global tech giants embedding AI into retail checkouts, 2026 is the year of the Infrastructure.
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