Google Expands UK AI Presence with Data Residency & Agentspace

Google Expands AI Initiatives in the United Kingdom

Google is significantly investing in its artificial intelligence operations within the U.K. Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, and Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, recently presented the company’s strategic plans alongside key customers, BT and WPP, during an event held in London.

Enhanced Data Residency for Enterprise AI

The company announced an expansion of its U.K. data residency capabilities to now encompass Agentspace. This allows AI agents, designed for enterprise use and built on Google’s infrastructure, to be hosted within the country. This is a crucial development for organizations prioritizing control over their data and its location.

Financial Incentives and Skills Development

Alongside this, Google is introducing increased financial support for AI startups. Those participating in its new U.K. accelerator program can receive up to £280,000 in Google Cloud credits. Furthermore, expanded AI skills training programs are being implemented.

Chirp 3 Now Available on Vertex AI

During the event at its DeepMind offices, Google revealed that Chirp 3, its audio generation model developed internally, is now accessible through its Vertex AI developer platform.

The Rise of "Agentic" AI

The term “agentic” is increasingly used to describe the practical application of AI within businesses. The core concept centers on building AI agents capable of both accelerating employee workflows and improving customer interactions.

Agentspace: A Platform for Building AI Assistants

Agentspace serves as Google’s platform for developing these work-based assistants. A prominent feature is NotebookLM for enterprises, a tool that can process and summarize substantial amounts of information for use in large organizations.

U.K. Data Residency and Gemini 1.5 Flash

Google initially launched Agentspace as a beta in December 2024. Data residency for the U.K. was announced in October 2024, enabling private and public sector organizations to store data, train AI models, and perform inference using Gemini 1.5 Flash within the U.K. Today’s announcement extends Agentspace to this data residency region.

Building Trust and Addressing Data Concerns

These initiatives aim to establish a foundation for increased business collaboration with Google in the development of future AI services. They also seek to address concerns regarding the handling of proprietary data in the cloud during AI development and other services. Data continues to be a highly valuable asset.

Industry Perspective on Cloud AI Adoption

“A significant percentage of organizations across Europe remain hesitant about deploying AI in the public cloud,” notes IDC analyst Mick Heys. “While they are willing to experiment, large-scale deployment often requires dedicated infrastructure or co-location environments for greater control over data security, privacy, and sovereignty.”

Data Control and Sovereignty

“Organizations will retain complete control over the location of their data,” Kurian affirmed during the event.

Partnerships with BT and WPP

Both BT and WPP, long-standing partners in AI services, participated in the event. They have established development and data partnerships with Google Cloud and are actively piloting programs utilizing newer versions of Imagen, Veo, and Gemini.

BT’s AI-Driven Transformation

“We are fundamentally reinventing all our operations,” stated BT CEO Allison Kirby, highlighting the potential of AI. Applications include detecting phone scams and enhancing customer service. BT previously announced plans to replace a portion of its workforce with AI, potentially impacting up to 55,000 jobs.

Recent Advancements in Google’s AI Portfolio

Google is experiencing rapid development within its AI business. The recent launch of new Gemini developments, including Gemini 2.0, focuses on multimodal generation and real-time understanding, enabling image creation from text prompts, advancements in robotics, and improvements to the lightweight Gemma model.

Government and Industry Initiatives

The U.K. government is actively promoting AI development, both internally and across the broader industry. Simultaneously, European businesses are advocating for reduced reliance on large technology companies, favoring domestic businesses and services.

Government Adoption of Generative AI

The U.K. government has outlined plans to demonstrate the adoption of generative AI services to streamline processes and integrate data previously isolated across different departments.

Economic Growth and Regional AI Zones

This government initiative is part of a larger strategy to capitalize on the potential economic benefits of AI. The U.K. is committed to establishing AI regional zones, including data center capacity and regulatory adjustments to facilitate data access.

Intellectual Property and AI Training

“These models are global and used everywhere, and we need to set an international standard for this,” Hassabis explained, addressing the U.K.’s efforts to revise regulations regarding the use of intellectual property in AI model training – a contentious issue.

Google’s Position in the U.K. AI Landscape

Interestingly, the government is currently collaborating with OpenAI and Anthropic, both competitors to Google in the generative AI space. While Google’s announcements are relatively recent, they could open doors for increased collaboration with the government in the future.