The UK government will commit £100m to create a new AI Biosecurity Lab (AIBL), a national institute it calls a "world first" aimed at strengthening defences against emerging biological threats. The funding will be unveiled in Wednesday's Budget, according to BBC technology reporter Liv McMahon.
The lab is being supported by leading AI developers. OpenAI and Anthropic will provide £200m worth of AI model credits that can be spent on using their models, and Google DeepMind is also backing the initiative, per the BBC report. Full details of the lab's role and remit have not yet been released.
UK AI biosecurity funding: the key numbers
Wednesday's Budget goes beyond the biosecurity lab. The chancellor will also pledge millions across a range of initiatives meant to shore up the UK's ability to respond to evolving cyber, biological and AI-enabled threats.
The AI Security Institute (AISI), set up by the previous Conservative government in 2023 to evaluate risks from the most advanced models, will receive an additional £120m. A further £60m is earmarked for a "National Cyber Shield" that would use agentic AI to boost cyber-defences, and £70m for a National Exposure and Real-Time Vulnerability (NERV) Centre to detect cyber vulnerabilities across critical infrastructure and the wider economy.
- £100m for the new AI Biosecurity Lab (AIBL), described as a "world first"
- OpenAI and Anthropic to provide £200m worth of AI model credits
- An extra £120m for the UK's AI Security Institute (AISI)
