Britain Unveils £600 Million AI Security Package
The package centers on a new AI Biosecurity Lab backed by OpenAI and Anthropic, with fresh money for cyber defences, British AI firms, and chip design.
Britain will spend about £600 million on AI security, the government announced on Saturday. The money is aimed at the health and security risks that come with advanced artificial intelligence, and the full details will be set out in Chancellor John Healey’s Budget on Wednesday.
The largest share goes to biosecurity. £100 million will fund a new AI Biosecurity Lab, and £65 million will go to developing countermeasures against pathogens. AI minister Kanishka Narayan said the lab should become a major global institution, “bringing together world-leading scientific expertise to protect people from emerging biological threats.”
What the lab will do
The lab will use AI to spot biological threats earlier and to speed up the response when one appears. The worry behind it is straightforward: as AI models get better at biology, they could also lower the bar for building biological weapons. The lab is meant to work on the defensive side of that equation.
The tech industry is contributing in kind, not in cash. OpenAI and Anthropic will offer up to £200 million in model credits to the biosecurity initiative — access to their models, not money for salaries or equipment. Google DeepMind and London-based AI life sciences firm Basecamp Research will offer other assistance.
Cyber defences get £130 million
£130 million will go to two new cyber projects. The National Cyber Shield will use AI agents to strengthen digital defences, and the National Exposure and Real-Time Vulnerability Centre will hunt for weaknesses in critical infrastructure and the wider economy. The government’s existing AI Security Institute, which tests frontier AI models, gets an extra £120 million.
The homegrown side
The rest of the package is about building British capacity. £60 million goes to a fund investing in British companies using AI for robotics, autonomous systems, and manufacturing, and another £60 million goes to AI research and procurement contracts. A new chip design academy gets £18 million, research into AI’s economic impact gets £23 million, and £30 million goes to regional mayors for local AI work. A £15 million prize will fund AI solutions to public policy problems, starting with healthcare. The National Cyber Security Centre will also get an unspecified sum to expand in Manchester.
The government described the package as a way to unlock the opportunities of AI across the country, scale up homegrown AI firms, and keep the country safe from hostile threats. For now, that is what it is: a set of commitments. The lab is announced, not open, and the funding details arrive with the Budget on Wednesday.
