Search Search BenevolentAI: drug research startup goes on hiring spree as UK’s artificial intelligence sector booms Benevolent is one of five private AI companies that has reached a valuation of more than $1bn, according to CB Insights Click to follow The Independent Online 'We are already bursting at the seams of our current office space so alongside this hiring spree we’ll be moving to a much larger London office later in the year,' said Ken Mulvany, founder of BenevolentAI BenevolentAI Drug discovery startup BenevolentAI has begun a major hiring spree, as it seeks to take advantage of the current boom in the UK’s artificial intelligence and machine learning sector.
 The London-based startup, valued at $1.
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 In September 2016 it hired Jerome Pesenti, a former executive at IBM’s Watson platform.
 The UK’s vote to leave the European Union has created economic uncertainty and raised questions about the development of artificial intelligence and the country’s ability to attract engineering, software and security talent.
 Cities including Paris have been battling to attract companies away from the UK as well as entrepreneurs and funding for startups.
 Read more industry Despite this, the UK has recently emerged as one of the dominant hubs for AI, hosting a batch of high-profile tech startups in the sector that have gone on to be acquired by US tech firms, including Twitter’s purchase of London-based artificial intelligence startup Magic Pony Technology in June, language processing company SwiftKey’s sale to Microsoft in February 2016, and Alphabet’s £400m acquisition of London AI startup DeepMind in 2014.
 Most recently, SoftBank led a $502m investment in Improbable Worlds, a London-based virtual reality startup, in one of the UK’s largest venture capital deals.