Scotland @ CogX

Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Small Business, Trade and Innovation

Guest blog from Carolyne Thomson, Senior AI Policy Officer for the Scottish Government

On Tuesday 12 September 2023 I was fortunate enough to attend an event at Scotland House in Central London, hosted by the Minister for Small Business, Trade and Innovation, Richard Lochhead MSP.

The event was titled – Scotland @CogX: Leading the way in trustworthy, ethical, and inclusive AI” and was arranged to tie in to the CogX theme of “How do we get the next 10 years right” in the data and AI sphere.

Mr Lochhead gave a really engaging and warm welcome to the gathered group focusing on what he saw as the strengths and opportunities which were available to Scotland and the companies who chose to work and invest there.

It was really interesting to hear him focus his thoughts around the regulation and financial support required to help ensure that Scotland continues to thrive and benefit from the many opportunities which AI does and will offer us as a nation.

This led on to a really exciting update from Catriona Campbell, Chair of the Scottish AI Alliance. As part of an update about the work of the Alliance she shared that a new 5 week, online course, called “Living with AI”, had just been launched and we could all sign up to try it out.

It is really important that we start to share the opportunities and benefits of AI with a wider range of people and the knowledge which this course will share, with whoever wants it, is a great addition to the AI education space.

We then heard from Michael Benson from Scottish Development International (SDI) who gave an overview of the services offered by SDI and  highlighted some case studies that have been supported.

And then last but not least, the formal part of the event closed out with Brian Hills, CEO of the Data Lab. He described to the vibrant, growing and innovative tech community which is available to those who decide to come and work and grow their businesses in Scotland.

The evening closed with something I recommend all future AI events should have – whisky tasting. After one or two I even thought I finally understood how ChatGPT and Bard work!

Further information
If you would like to find out more about:
The Scottish AI Alliance - get in touch here!
Scottish Development International - get in touch with Michael here
The Data Lab - get in touch with Mark here