4most spearheads launch of the Business AI Alliance
Consultants from 4most are among the business leaders to have launched a new group, promoting the interests of AI businesses in public policy. The Business AI Alliance aims to champion “SME success stories” involving AI adoption, at a time when enthusiasm with the technology seems to be flagging.
The Business AI Alliance is a group of organisation which is aiming to shape a strategic narrative around the technology’s economic potential in public discourse. Among the coalition’s early members are leading banks, technology companies, and universities. This includes founding organisations such as the University of Glasgow, Inference Group, 51degrees, CreateFuture, IOA Foundation, Intriq, Automated Analytics, and consulting network 4most.
Recent months have seen signs that many commentators, businesses and investors are losing patience with the perceived ‘AI bubble’; with little recognised impact from it, in spite of huge amounts of capital having been thrown into a proverbial pit. But “driven by aspiration, hope and honesty to achieve change quickly”, the Alliance hopes that pointing to some SME success stories around AI adoption as a foundation will help to ensure the UK’s more than 3,000 AI-focused SMEs are “properly represented in government and industry discussions”.
Speaking ahead of the Alliance’s launch in September, at a Parliamentary Reception, Colin Carmichael, client partner at 4most, argued, “AI will define the next chapter of the UK economy, but too often the people who actually design, build, and deliver it aren’t in the room when strategy is set.”
SME expertise
Carmichael suggested that “the UK’s AI SMEs are experts”, however, he claimed “their perspectives are frequently overshadowed by larger corporate voices”. Explaining how he saw this playing into SME’s AI use, he added that with “almost 90% of AI businesses expect[ing] revenue growth in the next 12 months”, more than half also feel “limited investment is holding them back”.
“The Business AI Alliance is set to change this,” Carmichael alleged. “Bringing together the country’s most capable AI minds, the alliance will influence policy, champion growth, and create the conditions for a thriving, competitive AI sector.”
The launch at UK Parliament has already cultivated some support among the UK’s political caste. Conservative life peer Lord Kulveer Ranger remarked that as “small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of our economy”, he believed they would have to be at the forefront of “the AI revolution” too.
To that end, Ranger added, “I welcome and support the formation of the Business AI Alliance, which can give these firms a powerful voice, helping them to collaborate, innovate and scale responsibly. By uniting entrepreneurs, industry, and policymakers, it can ensure the UK not only develops world-class AI, but also creates the right conditions for our SMEs to thrive and compete globally.”
Shaping policy
Spearheading the Alliance, 4most will now help with collaborative research, policy submissions and engagement with government and industry professionals to champion SME perspectives in AI policymaking. It will also promoting “responsible, right-sized adoption of AI”; and supporting “environments where SMEs can thrive, grow and create jobs”.
While the Alliance’s advocates did not point to any particular barriers to SMEs or AI beyond “investment”, the UK government has been working to try and encourage the adoption of the technology throughout 2025. This includes proposals to weaken planning rules, to hasten the construction of new housing, and of the data centres needed to enjoy the apparently huge economic benefits of AI – something environmental experts have said will have an unnecessarily destructive impact on local ecosystems, and the UK’s environment.
