The enterprise computing behemoth Salesforce is planning on establishing an artificial intelligence centre in London as part of $4 billion UK investment.
TakeAway Points:
- Salesforce announced on Thursday that it will open the Blue Fin Building in London as its first and foremost artificial intelligence centre in the United Kingdom.
- The facility, which is a portion of Salesforce’s $4 billion investment in the UK, will be used to support industry cooperation and enable programmes for AI training and upskilling.
- Additionally, Salesforce disclosed that AutoGen AI and Eleven Labs are only two of the U.K. firms in which its venture arm, Salesforce Ventures, has made more than $200 million in investments.
New AI centre in London
The massive American software company announced in a statement on Thursday that it is constructing a more than 40,000-square-foot facility that can accommodate more than 300 staff in London’s Blue Fin Building.
It will be used, according to the company, to support AI training and upskilling programmes and foster industry collaboration among tech companies, AI specialists, Salesforce partners, and customers.
AI centre to Create Jobs
Salesforce stated that it anticipates the AI centre to contribute to the creation of 500,000 jobs in the UK related to AI.
On June 18, the facility will formally open with a free training session for around 100 developers.
Salesforce stated that the centre would serve its operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is intended to be the first of several centres worldwide. CEO of the company for the UK and Ireland, Zahra Bahrololoumi, will be in charge of it.
The announcement was made during the Salesforce World Tour event on Thursday at the London Excel venue. Over 17,500 attendees and customers are anticipated, with companies such as Aston Martin, McLaren, Just Eat Takeaway, and John Lewis among them.
“By locating Salesforce’s first, flagship AI center in London, we are sending a clear message to customers and partners on AI: we are deeply committed to working closely together so that you can reap the rewards of this transformative technology, while ensuring it is a force for good,” Salesforce’s Bahrololoumi said in a statement.
$4 billion is invested in the UK
The AI centre is a component of Salesforce’s $4 billion commitment to invest in the UK over a five-year period starting in 2023.
Salesforce said that it had invested over $200 million in U.K. businesses through its venture capital arm, Salesforce Ventures, in addition to announcing the inauguration of its AI centre. These include Eleven Labs, an AI-powered text-to-speech and voice generator, and the procurement platform AutoGen AI.
Patrick Stokes, executive vice president of product and industry marketing, said the U.K. was a “really interesting place to do it, because some of the challenges here with AI and data are, in some cases, a little bit more difficult to solve than they are in the US. There’s a little bit more regulation here.”
Salesforce AI Investment Pays off
Concerns have been raised about whether Salesforce’s AI initiatives are paying off in light of the revelation. The company released lower-than-expected fiscal first-quarter revenue figures last week, along with lower-than-expected projections for investors.
Salesforce announced sales of $9.13 billion for the quarter, which was less than analyst projections of $9.17 billion but up 11% from a year earlier. For the current quarter, the business said it expects adjusted earnings of $2.34 to $2.36 per share, which is less than the $2.40 per share analysts had predicted.
