UK unveils £600m AI security and biosecurity package

The UK government has announced a spending package of over £600 million for AI initiatives ahead of this week's Budget. The allocation includes £130 million for AI-powered cyber defenses, with £60 million designated for a new National Cyber Shield using agentic AI. This shield features a £25 million challenge fund for UK cybersecurity firms and a regulatory sandbox to test autonomous security tools. Another £70 million will establish the National Exposure and Real-Time Vulnerability Centre. The announcement follows the PHP2Shell security scare, which took dozens of government websites offline after AI-assisted researchers uncovered critical flaws in the PHP scripting language. The National Cyber Security Centre worked with OpenAI to coordinate the disclosure of these vulnerabilities.

The broader package includes £120 million for the AI Security Institute and £165 million for a National AI Biosecurity Initiative. The biosecurity funding supports a dedicated AI Biosecurity Lab, with OpenAI contributing £100 million in compute and model credits. Anthropic is offering up to £100 million in model credits and technical support. Additional funds include £60 million for the Sovereign AI Fund, £18 million for an Advanced Chip Design Academy, and £30 million for local AI partnerships. Manchester will host a new NCSC AI Cyber Security Centre of Excellence to train government specialists.

AI minister Kanishka Narayan stated that the technology had uncovered 500 previously unknown security flaws across significant parts of the public sector. Ciaran Martin, former head of the NCSC, welcomed the investment, saying Britain needs to harness AI for defense. It remains unclear how much freedom the new AI defenders will have to act without human intervention or when they will be deployed.