Scotland launches five-year AI strategy

Scottish government has launched a five-year artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, encompassing a series of measures with the aim of positioning Scotland as a leader in the AI revolution. This includes improving national infrastructure, improving public AI literacy and helping local businesses wanting to expand their use of the technology.

In its first year, the government aims to achieve a number of milestones, such as rolling out a national AI adoption programme, pilot an AI leadership academy for Scottish SMEs, appointing regional and sector-based AI champions and establish an expert advisory board to help guide delivery of the strategy.

The strategy will be driven forward by AI Scotland, a new transformation programme led by the government and a range of partners, including the Data Lab and ScotlandIS.

Launching the strategy at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, Scottish deputy first minister Kate Forbes said the “unprecedented pace” at which AI is developing and evolving presents an “enormous opportunity”, adding: “It has the potential to be genuinely transformative – for every sector of our economy, and for people from all backgrounds and communities.

“This strategy sets out a clear plan to harness the economic and social benefits of AI responsibly with practical, tangible steps to be taken this year to help ensure we translate our innovation and expertise into more businesses, jobs and investment.

“In establishing AI Scotland, we will use the expertise of our enterprise agencies, The Data Lab and other partners to lead an accelerated, co-ordinated approach to ensure Scotland’s economy and society reaps the rewards of this incredible technology.”

The Scottish government has taken, what it claims is a “radical new approach to the problem of how government may determine, organise and deliver an effective response to an accelerating technology with implications for all areas of policy”. This comes in the form of the AI Stack, which will underpin every part of delivery.

The stack consists of several layers, such as users, AI adoption and skills, companies and products, innovation, data centres and infrastructure and semiconductors. Each layer has a non-hierarchical relationship between each other and are all interdependent.

“The AI Stack aligns with Scotland’s AI ecosystem and represents ‘AI’ in its broadest sense, encompassing all current and emerging applications. In this way, the Stack provides a frame of reference which is able to adapt as new forms of AI are developed,” the strategy said.

One of those interdependencies is data. AI is only as good as the data it is provided with, and Scotland recognises that despite having “strong foundations for the effective use of public sector data”, the full value of the data as a national asset is not yet people realised.

“As other nations accelerate investment and streamline secure access, there is a growing risk that Scotland falls behind in research competitiveness, private investment and the development of data-enabled products and services,” the strategy said.

To grapple with this, by 2027 the Scottish government will launch a national data matchmaking pilot, allowing organisations to access trusted public-sector datasets to support innovation.

It will also “work with public sector organisations to identify the barriers and enablers affecting access to public sector data for AI, ensuring that programmes address shared challenges and support responsible use”.

By March 2027, Scotland will also have launched its nationwide engagement programme and implemented a “rigorous, trusted framework to ensure safe, ethical and efficient use of AI across health and social care services”.

It also wants to harness the knowledge of Scottish universities by working with delivery partners to pilot a new approach to university commercialisation, bringing together all the essential elements into a “venture creator”.

By the end of the five-year strategy, the government envisions the country as a global AI leader where people of all ages and backgrounds know how to engage with AI and trust the use of AI in public services.

There will also be inward investment, using public funding to unlock private capital and a strong, growing technology cluster sector. The government will re-evaluate each phase of the strategy and publish updates on their progress.

In January 2026, the UK government unveiled the Lanarkshire AI growth zone, which promises to deliver more than 3,400 jobs in the coming years.