The State of AI in Britain 2026: Trust, Readiness and the Public Mandate
- ICS AI
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 31
A nationwide study of 2,000 UK adults on artificial intelligence across work, public services and the wider economy - tracking how public attitudes have shifted between the January and June 2026 waves.
Read the full report (PDF) →
Artificial intelligence is now part of everyday life for most people in Britain. The debate has moved on from whether AI will matter to how quickly, how fairly, and how well it is governed. The June 2026 wave of the ICS.AI National AI Survey reveals a public that is pragmatic, increasingly hands-on, and looking for national leadership that matches its own readiness.
The clearest signal in the data is about pace, not technology. Almost half of the public (49%) say the government is not moving fast enough to prepare the country for large-scale technological change, while nearly six in ten (58%) believe the UK is not well prepared for AI's impact on jobs and the economy. Read alongside rising adoption, this is not a call to slow down - it is the opposite. As Martin Neale, CEO and founder of ICS.AI, puts it: "the public is not asking whether we should use AI, but why we are not further ahead".
Adoption is rising - but so are the conditions
Beneath the headlines about readiness, a quieter shift is underway: AI is becoming routine, at home and at work alike. A country increasingly anxious about the cost of living is looking to the technology to help, naming economic growth and higher productivity as its single biggest opportunity from AI.
But that support comes with firm conditions. Half the public (49%) say the priority for UK AI investment is that it is trustworthy and well-regulated, wherever it comes from. And two-thirds (67%) want AI tools restricted for under-16s, rising to 72% among women. The mandate is for acceleration, on strict conditions of trust, regulation, human accountability and inclusion.
What has changed since January
Because both waves surveyed 2,000 UK adults with a shared core of questions, the report can track movement rather than offer a single snapshot. The most striking shifts:
The pattern is consistent: everyday engagement with AI is rising, confidence in its economic value is edging up, and the public's conditions - trust, regulation, accountability - are becoming more firmly held, not less.
You can read the full January report here - AI-Curious or AI-Native? Mapping the UK's AI Journey.
A public mandate looking for a plan
The report sets out much more - the widening divides between men and women and younger and older adults, what citizens actually want from AI in public services, why organisational maturity lags individual adoption, and the full results for both survey waves.
It also makes the case for a response. Alongside the research, ICS.AI is proposing a UK Sovereign AI Charter: a practical, industry-led framework in which Britain's AI companies commit to build here, and set out the changes government can make to let them win from here - developed with the wider AI community.
"Britain has the talent, research capability and ambition to become a global AI leader, but our findings suggest that despite recent government initiatives, the public doesn't believe we're moving quickly enough. People aren't asking us to slow down on AI - quite the opposite. They want AI that helps grow the economy, improves public services and creates opportunities, and they expect clear leadership and responsible governance."
Martin Neale, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, ICS.AI
Read the full report (PDF) →
The full report runs to eight chapters covering readiness, trust, AI at work and in public services, the economy, regulation and children, the demographic divides between men and women and younger and older adults, and the case for a UK Sovereign AI Charter - plus the complete survey results for both waves.
Note on the data: findings on national readiness, ten-year concerns, the public conversation, biggest opportunity and under-16 restrictions are new in June 2026 and presented as a baseline, not a trend. Gender and age cuts are June-only. Some January questions are labelled as January 2026 baseline where they appear.
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