Safeguarding Britain’s national security and protecting citizens from crime will become founding principles of the UK’s approach to AI security from today.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference and just days after the conclusion of the AI Action Summit in Paris, Peter Kyle has today recast the AI Safety Institute the ‘AI Security Institute’.
This new name will reflect its focus on serious AI risks with security implications, such as how the technology can be used to develop chemical and biological weapons and how it can be used to carry out cyber-attacks and enable crimes.
The Institute will also partner across government, including with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Ministry of Defence’s science and technology organisation, to assess the risks posed by frontier AI.
New approaches to tackle the criminal use of AI
As part of this update, the Institute will also launch a new criminal misuse team which will work jointly with the Home Office to conduct research on a range of crime and AI security issues which threaten to harm British citizens.
One important area of focus will be the use of AI to make child sexual abuse images, with this new team exploring methods to help prevent abusers from harnessing the technology to carry out these crimes.
This will support work announced earlier this month to make it illegal to own AI tools which have been optimised to make images of child sexual abuse.
Understanding the most serious AI security risks to influence policymakers
This means the focus of the Institute will be clearer than ever. It will not focus on bias or freedom of speech but on advancing our understanding of the most serious AI security risks to build up a scientific basis of evidence which will help policymakers keep the country safe as AI develops.
To achieve this, the Institute will work alongside wider government, the Laboratory for AI Security Research (LASR), and the national security community, including building on the expertise of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the UK’s national technical authority for cybersecurity.
A revitalised AI Security Institute will ensure we boost public confidence in AI and drive its uptake across the economy so we can unleash the economic growth that will put more money in people’s pockets.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Peter Kyle explained: “The changes I’m announcing today represent the logical next step in how we approach responsible AI development – helping us to unleash AI and grow the economy as part of our Plan for Change.
“The work of the AI Security Institute won’t change, but this renewed focus will ensure our citizens – and those of our allies – are protected from those who would look to use AI against our institutions, democratic values, and way of life.”
Enhanced collaboration between government and businesses
As the AI Security Institute bolsters its security focus, the Technology Secretary is also taking the wraps off a new agreement which has been struck between the UK and AI company Anthropic.
This partnership is the work of the UK’s new Sovereign AI unit, and both sides will work closely together to realise the technology’s opportunities, with a continued focus on the responsible development and deployment of AI systems.
This will include sharing insights on how AI can transform public services and improve the lives of citizens, as well as using this transformative technology to drive new scientific breakthroughs.
The UK will also look to secure further agreements with leading AI companies as a key step towards turbocharging productivity and speaking fresh economic growth.
“We look forward to exploring how Anthropic’s AI assistant Claude could help UK government agencies enhance public services, with the goal of discovering new ways to make vital information and services more efficient and accessible to UK residents,” said Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic.
“We will continue to work closely with the UK AI Security Institute to research and evaluate AI security in order to ensure its safe deployment.”
Thanks to the work of the Institute, the UK now stands ready to fully realise the benefits of the technology while bolstering our national security as we continue to harness the age of AI.
