Mayor Sadiq Khan has unveiled a £12m programme to help London's small businesses adopt artificial intelligence (AI), announced today at London Tech Week.
The three-year initiative, delivering £4m annually, was developed by the Mayor's growth agency London & Partners alongside the Mayor's AI and Jobs Taskforce, chaired by Baroness Martha Lane-Fox.
The programme will offer SMEs, which collectively employ more than half of London's workforce, AI readiness assessments, expert mentoring, workshops and tailored guidance.
The announcement comes despite research showing fewer than one in six London SMEs currently use AI tools, even as nearly two-thirds believe it will be critical to their competitiveness within five years.
Businesses that have already embraced AI report productivity gains exceeding 35% in their first year of adoption.
Khan said the investment would help businesses ‘boost productivity, create better jobs and drive growth across the capital.’
