The Alan Turing Institute (ATI) is the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.

The Goals of the ATI

As stated on their site, the goals of the Alan Turing Institute are:

– To advance world-class research and apply it to national and global challenges: innovate and develop world-class research in data science and artificial intelligence that supports next generation theoretical developments and is applied to real-world problems, generating the creation of new businesses, services, and jobs.

– To build skills for the future: contribute to training people across sectors and career stages with the necessary breadth and depth of technical and professional skills in data science and AI to match the UK’s growing industrial and societal needs.

– To drive an informed public conversation: provide balance in the public conversation on data science and AI by speaking to its technical, social and ethical dimensions through public engagement and the provision of advice to policymakers, industry and civil society.

The Future of the ATI

In March 2024 the Alan Turing Institute was awarded £100m in government funding in the hope that it would be at the forefront of British capability in AI. Just over a year later the Institute is struggling with restructuring difficulties, legal action over cancelled partnerships, issues of no confidence in leadership, frustrated stakeholders, and now Ministers, too, losing patience.

Most recently Turing’s senior management having acknowledged the challenges, and in response to a letter from the Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Innovation (July 2025) say that a new senior working group of government officials and Turing staff has been established, which will lead to delivering focused, high-impact work and that Turing is now clearly focused on areas where they can add unique value and ensure effective deployment of public funds.

Current staff say: “We are fighting for the future of the ATI. There is a communal feeling that the Turing is something we need to preserve. It has all this potential for greatness.”

Find Out More

As stated on their site, the ATI aim to enthuse and inspire everyone to learn about data science and AI and to explore cutting-edge innovations. Go to www.turing.ac.uk to find out about their research programmes and learning platform, to read publications and listen to podcasts and to find out about opportunities, conferences and seminars. The IAP and many of its members will be watching closely to future updates and news from the ATI. If you would like to discuss any issues or thoughts arising from this article contact the the IAP team – email admin@iap.org.uk. Perhaps we can raise the topic for discussion at the next Dev Café Rendezvous?

Who was Alan Turing

The ATI was named in honour of Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) who was a mathematician, computer scientist, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. Because of Turing’s pioneering work he is considered to be the father of theoretical computer science.