BRITAIN’S ECONOMY is far weaker for being outside the EU. Its booming AI sector may be a notable exception. So far this year British technology startups have raised over $14.5bn in venture capital(风险投资), more than all other major European markets combined. Britain has 33 AI unicorn(独角兽公司)s (startups valued at $1bn-plus), more than France, Germany and the Netherlands put together (though France has the biggest in Mistral, which makes continental Europe’s most advanced AI models). They include Wayve, whose driverless cars will soon be coming to London’s streets through Uber, a ride-hailing app(叫车应用). “It’s definitely a Brexit dividend(脱欧红利),” says Keegan McBride of the Tony Blair Institute, a think-tank(智库).
英国经济因脱离欧盟而大为削弱。但蓬勃发展的AI行业可能是一个明显的例外。今年迄今，英国科技初创公司已筹集超过145亿美元的风险投资，超过其他所有主要欧洲市场的总和。英国拥有33家AI独角兽（估值超过10亿美元的初创公司），超过法国、德国和荷兰的总和（尽管法国拥有最大的Mistral，它制造了欧洲大陆最先进的AI模型）。其中包括Wayve，其无人驾驶汽车很快将通过网约车应用Uber出现在伦敦街头。“这绝对是脱欧红利，”智库托尼·布莱尔研究所的Keegan McBride说。
One benefit is that Britain is not beholden(受制于，被约束) to the EU’s stringent(严格的，严厉的) AI Act, which critics say holds firms and their customers to burdensome standards. The British government has favoured innovation over regulation. Yet while Britain feels freer, in reality any ambitious AI firm will want to sell to the bloc, so must comply with the act anyway, says Alexandru Voica of Synthesia, one of Britain’s biggest generative-AI firms. In some cases, Brexit has made things “harder not easier”.(在某些情况下，脱欧让事情“更难而非更容易”。) Mr Voica points to steep(高昂的，陡峭的) visa fees and not being able to hire people fast enough as one reason the firm is now opening offices in mainland Europe. On June 9th the British government launched a global-talent scheme(全球人才计划) to help reduce such frictions.
一个好处是，英国不必受制于欧盟严格的AI法案，批评者认为该法案给企业及其客户带来了繁重的标准。英国政府倾向于创新而非监管。然而，尽管英国感觉更自由，但实际上任何有雄心的AI公司都想向欧盟销售产品，因此无论如何都必须遵守该法案，英国最大的生成式AI公司之一Synthesia的Alexandru Voica说。在某些方面，脱欧使事情“更难而非更容易”。Voica指出，高昂的签证费用和无法快速招聘员工是该公司现在在欧洲大陆开设办事处的原因之一。6月9日，英国政府启动了一项全球人才计划，以帮助减少此类摩擦。
Great ideas, even when stripped of Brussels’s red tape(繁文缛节，官样文章), still do not always turn into action. “AI growth zones”, designated areas where the government aims to build data centres more rapidly by fast-tracking(加速处理，快速通道) planning approvals and prioritising grid connections(电网连接), remain little more than(仅仅是，无异于) labels. “The UK has a huge strategic advantage [over the EU],” says Pascal Levensohn, a venture capitalist(风险投资家) helping to set up an innovation hub in Cambridge. “It hasn’t taken advantage of it.”
伟大的想法，即使摆脱了布鲁塞尔的繁文缛节，也并不总能变成行动。“AI增长区”——政府旨在通过加快规划审批和优先电网连接来更快建设数据中心的指定区域——仍然只是标签。“英国[相对于欧盟]拥有巨大的战略优势，”一位帮助在剑桥建立创新中心的风险投资家Pascal Levensohn说。“它还没有利用这一优势。”
Maik up your mind
打定主意（此处为双关，可能与Make up your mind谐音）