AI lifts roughly a quarter of UK growth, Bloomberg Economics says

What Bloomberg found

Artificial intelligence has been a meaningful tailwind for the UK economy this year. With overall growth near 1.8% in 2026, Bloomberg Economics estimates activity tied to AI added 0.45 percentage points to that total.

Economist Ana Andrade summed it up: "The technology is giving the UK economy a boost." The report also notes that Britain's sensitivity to the recent selloff in AI exposed stocks depends on whether it turns into a "disorderly downturn, akin to a financial crash," or instead amounts to a more orderly repricing.

Where the growth is coming from

Most of the lift so far comes from making and building the technology itself, rather than widespread use across the economy. Bloomberg Economics' measure bundles manufacturing of computing hardware, building data centers, developing AI models and applications, and services linked to data storage and cloud computing.

As Andrade put it, "once it's more broadly adopted, we would expect the gains to show up in higher productivity across a wide range of industries."

New technologies reshape opportunities, and thoughtful investors learn to adapt their approach. We're hosting our first ever investor livestream on 11/17 to show you how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro, hosted by Briefs Finance CEO Jaspreet Singh. Save your seat.

Why it matters for your portfolio

The report aligns with other evidence that AI is now a real growth driver. The Bank of England estimates the rollout has contributed about a fifth of this year's economic expansion.

For markets, the path of pricing matters. Bloomberg Economics highlights two possibilities for AI exposed assets - a disorderly, crash-like downturn or an orderly reset - and the UK's exposure shifts with that path. The bottom line: the UK's growth mix has an AI component, and so does its market risk profile.

Keeping an open mind about tools can help investors improve long term outcomes. On 11/17, our CEO Jaspreet Singh goes live for our first ever investor livestream on how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro. Register to join him.