UK commits £100m to AI Biosecurity Lab backed by OpenAI and Anthropic credits

A £600m package with a biosecurity focus

The UK government said on Saturday, 24 October, that it will commit around £600m (about $800m) to defending against health and security risks from artificial intelligence. Chancellor John Healey will set out the funding in his debut budget on Wednesday, 28 October. The centrepiece is a £100m AI Biosecurity Lab, which the government wants to become a leading global institution that pools scientific expertise to protect people from new biological threats. Healey and AI minister Kanishka Narayan announced the lab on Saturday. The full role and remit of the lab have not been published yet.

Backing from AI developers

The lab is to receive up to £200m in AI model credits from OpenAI and Anthropic, which can be spent on using their models. Bloomberg Business reported that Google DeepMind is also among its supporters. Sasha Baker, OpenAI's head of national security policy, said the lab's researchers would use AI to detect threats earlier and speed up the development of countermeasures. Matt Clifford, a former Downing Street adviser on AI who joined Anthropic in September, welcomed the lab, saying the technology was "changing both the biological risks we face and the nature of biological discovery".

Budget backdrop

Healey's debut budget comes as the war in the Middle East pushes up energy costs and revives cost-of-living pressure on households. On Friday, 23 October, oil rose above $117 a barrel at one point, its highest level in six months, after fresh tension in the Gulf. Healey has promised "breathing space" for households and businesses through the winter. Andy Burnham's government, three months into its term, is using the budget to set out its policy priorities and a wider vision for Britain's place in the global economy. Narayan framed the investment in terms of national security.

“That means staying ahead of emerging threats, from cyber attacks to biological risks, while building more of the critical technology our security depends on.”

Wider AI and cyber spending

The budget also includes £120m more for the AI Security Institute, which the former Conservative government set up in 2023 to evaluate the risks of the most advanced models. Another £60m is for a "National Cyber Shield" that would use agentic AI to strengthen cyber defences. A further £60m goes to the Sovereign AI Fund, which invests in homegrown AI start-ups. Narayan's approach seeks to keep crucial technologies and data storage in Britain while building a few world-leading capabilities, including safety, to use as leverage in negotiations with the United States and others. The figures are shown below.

AI Biosecurity Lab100

AI Security Institute top-up120

National Cyber Shield60

Sovereign AI Fund60

AI Biosecurity Lab

100 £m

AI Security Institute top-up

120 £m

National Cyber Shield

60 £m

Sovereign AI Fund

60 £m

Data from the article text

Open questions

The BBC reports that details of the lab's role and remit are still to emerge. Growing calls for technical standards and guardrails for AI development form the backdrop to the extra AI Security Institute funding, according to the BBC. The Financial Times links the lab to rising concern that AI models could help users create new viruses or bioweapons. Healey's budget on Wednesday, 28 October, is where the measures will be formally set out.