Atlas report
AI researchers in United Kingdom
University of Cambridge is the largest, with 1 406 indexed researchers, barely ahead of University of Oxford at 1 396. No single place dominates here.
The short answer
22 962 researchers in the index have an institution in the United Kingdom, the 4th largest count among 40 countries.
Per million inhabitants, the United Kingdom has 336 AI researchers in the index against 68 worldwide, 4.9 times the world figure.
Mobile Crowdsensing and Crowdsourcing is the subject newcomers in the United Kingdom pick up fastest: 74 started on it since 2024, and its share of new entrants is 4.2 times its share in the previous window.
What stands out
The United Kingdom holds 4.1% of the researchers with a known country and 0.8% of the world's population, 4.9 times its demographic weight.
17% of the AI researchers indexed in the United Kingdom sit in a company rather than a university, 1.8 times the world share of 9.4%.
The subject where the United Kingdom weighs most against the rest of the world is Reinforcement Learning in Robotics: 2.6% of its subject assignments work on it, 1.4 times the world share of 1.9%.
Subjects
The single most common subject is Topic Modeling, on which 8.0% of the United Kingdom's subject assignments fall.
Subject reports: Natural Language Processing Techniques, Multimodal Machine Learning Applications.
| Subject | Researchers | Share here | Share worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic Modeling | 3 631 | 8.0% | 8.5% |
| Natural Language Processing Techniques | 2 162 | 4.8% | 4.7% |
| Multimodal Machine Learning Applications | 1 480 | 3.3% | 3.8% |
| Advanced Neural Network Applications | 1 455 | 3.2% | 4.0% |
| Reinforcement Learning in Robotics | 1 161 | 2.6% | 1.9% |
| Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis | 1 113 | 2.5% | 2.4% |
| Gaussian Processes and Bayesian Inference | 369 | 0.8% | 0.3% |
| Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge | 305 | 0.7% | 0.3% |
Newcomers by year
Newcomers since 2024 number 4 886 in the United Kingdom, against 2 875 between 2021 and 2023: a ratio of 1.7, where the world sits at 1.7.
In 2025, the last full year, the United Kingdom gained 0.8 times as many new researchers as in an average year of the three before; the world figure is 0.7.
| First publication | New in United Kingdom | Share of the world's newcomers |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 703 | 4.5% |
| 2020 | 744 | 4.5% |
| 2021 | 865 | 4.6% |
| 2022 | 1 051 | 3.8% |
| 2023 | 959 | 4.1% |
| 2024 | 997 | 4.3% |
| 2025 | 794 | 4.3% |
Institutions
17% of the country's researchers sit in three institutions, led by University of Cambridge.
University of Cambridge is the largest, with 1 406 indexed researchers, barely ahead of University of Oxford at 1 396. No single place dominates here. Everyone else sits in places too small to name without pointing at individuals.
| Institution | Researchers | Share of the country |
|---|---|---|
| University of Cambridge | 1 406 | 6.1% |
| University of Oxford | 1 396 | 6.1% |
| Imperial College London | 1 087 | 4.7% |
Compared with its peers
The two countries closest in size are Germany and India. Same order of magnitude, different profile. The gap that stands out is the share working in a company: 17% here against 7.6% for those two. Reports: AI researchers in Germany.
| United Kingdom | Germany | India | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers | 22 962 | 25 383 | 16 405 |
| Per million inhabitants | 336 | 300 | 11 |
| In a company | 17% | 9.8% | 5.4% |
| Early career | 48% | 54% | 49% |
| Newcomers, recent against previous window | 1.7 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Method
A country is where the institution sits, so someone who has moved and not yet published from the new address still counts at the old one. Counts move between two refreshes because the index grows every night. The method page sets out the sources and what each field leaves out.
Common questions
- How many AI researchers are there in United Kingdom?
- As of September 2026, the index holds 22 962 researchers whose institution sits in United Kingdom, 4.1% of everyone with a known country. Only people who published AI research are counted, which makes the figure a floor.
- Where do you find AI researchers in United Kingdom?
- University of Cambridge, 1 406, University of Oxford, 1 396, Imperial College London, 1 087. Their most common subject is Topic Modeling, 8.0% of the country's subject assignments.
- What is United Kingdom strongest in?
- Reinforcement Learning in Robotics, at 1.4 times the world share.
- Is the pool of AI researchers in United Kingdom growing?
- Yes, at the world's pace. Since 2024, 4 886 people in United Kingdom published for the first time, against 2 875 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.7 where the world sits at 1.7.
The names behind the numbers
Every count on this page is a list in the index.
Search it by subject and country to find who leads the work today, and set an alert on the ones about to come free, for $179 a month or 149 € in the euro area. Or hand the search over and pay only when someone joins.