Aufgedeckt: Großbritanniens milliardenschwere KI-Initiative basiert auf „Phantominvestitionen“
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/09/revealed-uks-multibillion-ai-drive-is-built-on-phantom-investments
Von LOTDT
Aufgedeckt: Großbritanniens milliardenschwere KI-Initiative basiert auf „Phantominvestitionen“
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/09/revealed-uks-multibillion-ai-drive-is-built-on-phantom-investments
Von LOTDT
16 Kommentare
ALL AI investment is a scam governments are falling for.
I mean AI as a whole industry is a scam but if we get money and jobs out of it who cares. Milk the venture capitalists for what we can.
Governments don’t seem to get the difference between a business owning and training a foundation model, and some grift set up with ChatGPT API under the hood.
If this AI investment boom turns out to be money making scam, if ow when it bursts, it could have a major negative impact upon the U.K. and global (as it’s a global trend) economy.
Someone needs to tell my local council, they want to turn a park and ride used by hundreds of hospital staff and patients into a datacentre, nevermind that the site flooded during the 2020 floods.
Yeah, we know… Shame the Human Rights Lawyers in Government haven’t worked out that promises to spend in the UK with promised cash returns on high capital expenditure and high maintenance kit that depreciates the moment it’s built and isn’t hooked up doing anything.
Oh well, at least we’ll have built massive warehouses with large power grid connections, I’m sure there’s Amazon that might want some expansion for general server space.
Last time I check Loughton isn’t in East London, it is in Essex.
AI is just 5 companies pushing money around in a circle. But dont worry, deffo not a bubble …
The more I see „industry leaders“ talking about AI lately the more I become convinced we’re close to the bubble bursting. They’re starting to sound like your old school friend who got in touch via Facebook after 20 years telling you how much essential oils will *change your life*. It all feels like it’s becoming a bit desperate as the promised land isn’t quite materialising.
I’m buying a small compute server for a scientific lab and the price has doubled in 6 months. It’s crazy. Hopefully we can get some good stuff cheap when the AI centers close down and sell off their hardware?
Civil service and politicians know less about IT than your nan. Their ignorance is why they are getting scammed.
**TL;DR of the Guardian “phantom AI investment” article**
The article argues that some of the UK’s headline **“multibillion-pound AI investment” numbers are inflated**, but it doesn’t actually show the investments are fake.
What it finds is mainly:
• **CoreWeave £1bn investment** – real spending, but mostly GPUs installed in **existing datacentres**, not new buildings.
• **Nscale $2.5bn AI supercomputer** – currently **an intention/project proposal**, not a funded build yet.
• **Scottish AI growth zone** – expansion plans exist, but the **largest capacity claims are long-term projections**, not approved builds.
The bigger issue highlighted is **how the totals are presented**:
* Government announcements **bundle confirmed spending, planned projects, and company intentions into one headline number**.
* Some investments were **already announced earlier or are conditional on planning and financing**.
* The government **doesn’t independently verify the private investment figures** companies announce.
So the reality seems to be:
**AI investment in the UK is real**, but the big headline totals include a mix of
• actual spending
• future plans
• conditional commitments.
The Guardian frames this as **“phantom investments”**, but the evidence mainly shows **optimistic accounting and PR-style aggregation**, not nonexistent projects.
Attracting AI investments was a good idea, during the past few years. But now the bubble is very inflated, there’s a risk politicians fall into the trap of investment at its peak price. Particularly in the NHS where projects that looked reasonable a year ago or two could cost twice or more now.
So is what NVIDIA is doing.
All of this is just a fake arms race against china
we have an AI drive what? i only know of the google deals we have so what is this AI drive lmao? maybe we could get an actual model and such so we could be independent but last i hear was we were heading to become 2nd world country instead
Big difference between investing £x bn in the local economy, and spending £x bn on imported hardware.
Everyone wants the headline, but no one wants the responsibility for any sort of measurable benefit.