Big week in AI!

👋 Greetings earthlings, Emma here, co-founder of Spark.

Monday marked a watershed moment for UK tech with the release of the government-commissioned 'AI Opportunities Action Plan.' While the headlines trumpet Britain’s ambitions to become an AI superpower, what really caught my eye was how this plan could impact how we work as creatives and marketeers. We thought this deserved our attention this Friday - and while we’re here we’ll bring you a could of tips about Google’s AI tools.

What the UK’s AI Action plan means for Creative Agencies and Marketing Teams

The government has called the AI transition “the global race of our lives” and is aiming to make the UK an “AI Superpower”.

It’s refreshing to recognition of the seismic impact of AI on our economy and our lives. Government’s vision is bold: making the UK a global hub for AI innovation while driving economic growth across sectors. But beyond the big-picture aspirations, there are practical, immediate implications for agencies and marketing teams. Let’s unpack what this means for us.

Main headlines:

1. The Government hopes to grow the UK economy by an extra £400 billion by 2030, with AI boosting workplace productivity and innovation.

2. Expectation that productivity will double within 5 to 10 years because of AI.

3. Government is committed to expanding the UK’s sovereign compute capacity by at least 20 times by 2030. Compute refers to the processing power of computers, essential for training and running AI models

4. An AI Energy Council will be formed to explore how to meet the energy demands of AI and develop clean energy solutions

For creatives and marketeers, this plan spells opportunities—and a few headaches. But hey, we’re used to solving creative problems, right?

What’s in It for for us lot? Opportunities galore:

The potential for copyright-cleared datasets: A potential British media training dataset could give agencies access to high-quality, copyright-cleared assets—a game-changer for AI-driven content creation. This includes the creation of a National Data Library to unlock public sector data for AI research and innovation. However, the government is still considering whether to take this forward - watch this space.

Sector-Specific Support: The Government is setting up AI Sector Champions who will be tasked with helping industries—Creative Industries included—adopt AI solutions. We’ll keep you posted as we find out more, but we hope this means more tailored support and better representation to feed into government policy.

Regional Growth: AI adoption initiatives outside traditional hubs could level the playing field for smaller cities or rural areas. The plan includes the creation of AI Growth Zones to speed up planning proposals and build more AI infrastructure. The first AIGZ will be at Culham in Oxfordshire with plans for a 500MW AI data center, with Bristol also being considered as a growth zone (Isambard-AI supercomputer).

But, of course, challenges remain, but none of them are new news:

Evolving IP Laws: Keeping up with IP changes and ethical guidelines around generative AI can feel like trying to hit a moving target. The government has published a consultation on copyright and AI proposing a text and data mining (TDM) exception, and they are considering removing protection for computer-generated works. We will be hosting a webinar with the Creative Rights Institute at the end of February to discuss AI governance issues further (more details soon). In the meantime, check out their very helpful analysis of worldwide AI governance frameworks.

Job Disruption: Yes, AI will transform roles in many industries and the government report as gone large on the criticality of upskilling and reskilling.

Do More with Less: The eternal mantra. AI or not, clients want bigger results for smaller budgets.

So the UK has officially thrown its hat in the ring to be a global “AI superpower”.  Want to read all the details? 

Check out the Government’s full report

Or listen to it.

NotebookLM: The secret research assistant you’re probably not using (but should be)

While running workshops this week I noticed that very few people are using Google NotebookLM. For a tool with so much potential to streamline research and synthesis, it seems to still be flying under the radar. So I want to make sure you know about it.

I used NotebookLM today to help me with my article above about the Government’s AI Action Plan. Faced with a mountain of sources to fact-check for an article, it turned a slightly overwhelming task to into a 30 minutes conversation with by NotebookLM research buddy.

Here’s what happened:

• I uploaded my draft article and all the source documents and articles I wanted to check against.

• Using its chat feature, I was able to cross-check facts, test assumptions, and draw insights directly from the materials I provided.

The result? Confidence in the accuracy of the information I’m giving you and significant time saved.

What’s NotebookLM, and why should you care?

NotebookLM is Google’s AI-powered research assistant. Unlike tools that trawl the web for answers, it works only with the documents you upload. It’s perfect for:

• Synthesising research: Turn scattered notes into clear narratives.

• Fact-checking within a closed system: No risk of unreliable sources sneaking in.

• Idea generation: Explore insights from your own data or notes in new ways.

Go on, give it a try

Whether you’re synthesising research, piecing together a client presentation or fact-checking a blog, spend an hour experimenting with how NotebookLM could help.

Have you used NotebookLM or similar tools? I’d love to hear how they’re fitting into your work and what you’re using it for.

AI Is taking over your workspace

If you’re one of the millions using Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, AI has officially arrived in your daily workflow—whether you like it or not.

Google Workspace: AI at scale

Google has fully integrated Gemini AI into its Workspace suite, enhancing tools like Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Chat, and Meet. This integration enables users to do things like:

• Summarise lengthy email threads.

• US AI in Docs, Slides, and Sheets (think faster ideation and repurposing of content).

• To take detailed meeting notes in real time.

Of course, the upgrade comes with a price increase from $12 to $14 per user per month—a $2 bump.

Microsoft 365: A flexible transition

Microsoft has added Copilot, their AI assistant, to their suite for an additional $3 per month. Unlike Google, they’re offering some flexibility - you can opt out by reverting to a ‘Classic’ plan.

The big picture for leaders

The big story behind the integration of AI into Google Workspace and MS365 isn’t the software updates—it’s the fundamental changes it will make to how people work and where people spend their time at work. Consider these insights from recent Google research:

• 82% of young leaders (ages 22–39) are using AI tools in their jobs.

• 98% believe AI will impact their industry or workplace within five years.

• 88% would use AI to start tasks they find overwhelming.

• 87% say AI helps them feel more comfortable writing lengthy emails on their phones.

• 86% think AI can make current leaders better managers.

Just like hybrid working did, AI will make huge changes in workflows, organisation culture and organisation design but much faster than we’ve seen before. We recommend proactively considering this as a leadership team and being very deliberate about how you want your organisation to evolve in a world with AI everywhere. If you need help with this - this is what we support you on our AI for Leaders course within our AI Accelerator.

A Full-Circle Moment: Jules returns to Oxford

AI Confidence in Marketing

Yesterday, I kicked off the first webinar in a three-part AI confidence series with the Girls in Marketing community. The session was full of sharp questions and energy from early-career marketers eager to explore how AI can enhance creativity, streamline tasks, and deliver results.

One standout insight? More than 90% of attendees are using AI at least occasionally. For comparison, our recent AI in Creative Agencies research found that 70% of agency professionals are using it occasionally - and 30% not. We’re wondering why this is - demographics, obvious use cases, time to learn - we’ll do some more digging!

Missed it the first session? No problem—there are two more sessions in February and March, and with a Girls in Marketing Membership, you get access to all three webinars, plus recordings to catch up. Plus Girls in Marketing are offering a 3-month trial membership for £30 until 31st January. Brilliant for team members at the beginning of their career (this is not a sponsored article!).

Here’s a brainstorm of marketing use cases and tools to try to get your thoughts going:

Have a great weekend!

—Emma
Spark AI