Scale AI, a multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence group, has announced plans to set up its first international headquarters in the UK.

The data infrastructure company will open an office in London as the centre of its operation in Europe. Scale AI, which is based in San Francisco, specialises in helping companies improve the data they use to train machine-learning algorithms. It uses software and human workers to tag vast troves of data.

The company, which counts OpenAI and the US army among its customers, was valued at $7.3 billion in 2021.

Scale AI’s new London office will employ more than 50 specialist engineers and software developers. Some of the engineers will be from America, the company said.

Alexandr Wang, Scale AI’s chief executive, said: “The UK has long been a hotbed for technology, talent and diverse ideas, which is why we’re proud to establish roots here.”

Rishi Sunak said he was “delighted” that the company had chosen London as its European base. “It’s another vote of confidence in the UK’s economy and status as a science superpower and we are determined to ensure AI helps deliver a brighter future for the next generation,” the prime minister said.

The government has made several attempts to present Britain as a home for AI and regulating technological safety, and has leant towards a less strict, more “pro-innovation” approach than the European Union. There were 3,170 AI companies in Britain as of March last year, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, including leading industry players such as Stability AI. A report for the department said the industry contributed £3.7 billion to the economy and employed 50,000 people. There were 967 AI companies based in London as of April last year, according to the analyst Beauhurst.

King’s Cross in particular is seen as an AI hub, where the likes of the Facebook owner, Meta Platforms, has offices and Google’s AI business, DeepMind, which was founded in the UK, has its headquarters. Microsoft announced last month that it would open a new AI hub in Paddington, led by Jordan Hoffmann, who has worked at DeepMind and Inflection AI.

There are concerns that looming regulation could damage London’s relative attractiveness as an AI hub. The UK’s competition regulator said last month that it would examine Big Tech’s relationships with artificial intelligence companies. The Competition and Markets Authority is canvassing views on partnerships between Microsoft and Mistral, as well as Amazon and Anthropic.

Jeremy Huntpublicly welcomed Microsoft’s hiring in March of Mustafa Suleyman, the British founder of Inflection AI. The chancellor wrote on Twitter/X: “Mustafa and Microsoft look like a great fit — no one knows the incredible AI ecosystem that we have here in the UK better than Mustafa. Quite a thing to see the top roles in AI both at DeepMind/Google and Microsoft go to extraordinary British talent — helping us realise our ambition to be the world’s next Silicon Valley.”