UK MPs have called on the government to set out a clearer strategy for building sovereign AI and other critical technology capabilities.
A new report from the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee warns that the UK may not be able to rely on allies for access to technologies essential to economic growth and national security.
The committee said the government has not clearly defined what sovereign capability means, how it should be measured or what success would look like.
MPs also criticised the absence of a coherent strategic framework for using the UK's scientific research and institutions to support wider diplomatic and economic goals.
Instead, the report says the government has taken an opportunistic approach to international science and technology agreements, risking substituting activity for strategy.
AI is identified as a central arena for global competition and collaboration.
The committee said recent US restrictions on access to advanced AI models show how reliance on partners can leave the UK exposed if access to critical technologies changes suddenly.
MPs called on the government to define sovereign capability in key technology areas, identify critical supply-chain dependencies and use those assessments to guide investment, procurement and research funding.
The report also warned that the UK continues to struggle to turn world-class research into large domestic technology companies, with many promising firms forced to scale overseas.
It called for targeted investment, stronger public procurement and later-stage funding to help commercialise homegrown innovation in strategic sectors.
Why does it matter?
The report places sovereign AI inside a wider debate about technology dependence, national security and economic resilience. AI capability increasingly depends on access to compute, models, talent, data, infrastructure and supply chains that foreign governments or companies may control. The committee warns that the UK cannot treat partnerships as a substitute for strategy. It needs to decide which capabilities it must own, where it should collaborate and where reliable access is enough.