UK commits £100m to AI biosecurity lab

The UK government will invest £100m in a new AI Biosecurity Lab to detect emerging biological threats and speed up work on vaccines and treatments. The government described it as the world’s first dedicated AI biosecurity organisation. It will operate as an independent non-profit, modelled on the AI Security Institute.

OpenAI and Anthropic will contribute up to £200m between them in resources rather than cash. OpenAI will provide £100m in compute and model credits, alongside access to its models through its Rosalind Biodefense programme. Anthropic will supply up to £100m in model credits, model access, and technical support. Google DeepMind will join research projects and may provide access to Gemini and its science models, while Basecamp Research will share its AI biology models.

The UK Health Security Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory will participate. The medicines regulator, the MHRA, will work with the lab on regulating medicines designed by AI. No director, location, launch date, or funding period was announced.

The initiative forms part of a package of more than £600m for AI security announced ahead of Wednesday’s Budget. The package also includes £120m for the AI Security Institute, according to City AM.