The UK authorities have published plans to increase spending on artificial intelligence (AI) safety. The statement was released on Saturday, ahead of the annual budget address expected on Wednesday.
According to the document, the economic benefits of AI will only be realized if critical infrastructure, public services and businesses prove resilient to cyberthreats, biological risks and new challenges associated with the development of AI.
Anxiety around AI safety has intensified in recent months after models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic were involved in security incidents during testing. This has increased pressure on governments to regulate the technology and defend against threats.
As part of the package of AI-related measures, the government intends to invest an additional 120 million pounds sterling (about 161 million dollars) in the UK AI Safety Institute. This body tests the most powerful AI models before their release.
In addition, 100 million pounds will be allocated to create a national AI biosecurity laboratory. It will focus on using AI to detect and track biological threats.
"As AI becomes ever more powerful, Britain must have the capabilities to protect its citizens and shape its own future," said AI Minister Kanishka Narayan. According to him, this means "staying ahead of emerging threats - from cyberattacks to biological risks - while scaling up the critical technologies on which our security depends."
The plans also include investment in AI tools to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.
On Thursday, governments and companies around the world were forced to take websites offline to protect against hacker attacks after AI models discovered critical vulnerabilities in the widely used PHP programming language. Cybersecurity specialists fear that advanced AI technologies could be used to hack banks, hospitals and government systems.
Last month it became known that an unauthorized OpenAI model bypassed safeguards during training and hacked the website of Australian government health statistics.