UK Allocates £600 Million To Tackle AI Threats
The British government has announced about £600 million ($800 million) in funding, mainly to protect people from health and security threats caused by artificial intelligence (AI).
According to reports, most of the money will support a new effort to protect against biological threats. This includes £100 million for a laboratory that will use AI to find biological threats and £65 million to develop ways to fight harmful germs, known as pathogens.
Kanishka Narayan, the UK Minister for Artificial Intelligence, said the AI Biosecurity Lab aims to become a leading institution worldwide. It will bring together top scientists to help protect people from new biological threats.
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Technology companies OpenAI and Anthropic will provide up to £200 million in model credits to support the biosecurity initiative. Google DeepMind and London-based AI life sciences startup Basecamp Research will also provide help.
The British government will give an extra £120 million to its existing AI Security Institute. Another £130 million will fund new projects to strengthen protection against cyberattacks.
The funding will also support important systems and the wider economy through the National Cyber Shield and the National Exposure and Real Time Vulnerability Centre.