UK’s AI Safety Institute “recast” to become UK AI Security Institute

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference only a matter of days after the conclusion of the AI Action Summit in Paris, Peter Kyle (Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology) has recast the AI Safety Institute as 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, carry out cyber attacks and also enable forms of criminality such as fraud.

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.   

As part of this update, the Institute will launch a new criminal misuse team, which is going to work jointly with the Home Office to conduct research on a range of crime and security issues which threaten to harm British citizens. 

The focus of the Institute will now “be clearer than ever”. It will not focus on bias or freedom of speech, but on advancing the understanding of the most serious risks posed by the technology to build up a scientific basis of evidence, which will help policymakers to keep the country safe as AI develops.

To achieve this goal, the Institute will work alongside the Laboratory for AI Security Research and the national security community, including building on the expertise of the National Cyber Security Centre (itself the UK’s national technical authority for cyber security).

Blueprint for AI

The announcement comes just weeks after the Government set out its new blueprint for AI to deliver a decade of national renewal, harnessing the technology to deliver on the ‘Plan for Change’. A revitalised AI Security Institute will ensure that public confidence in AI is boosted and drive its uptake across the economy.

Peter Kyle remarked: “The changes 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 will not change, but this renewed focus will ensure that 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.”

Kyle added: “The main job of any Government is ensuring its citizens are safe and protected. I’m confident that the expertise our Institute will be able to bring to bear will ensure the UK is in a stronger position than ever before to tackle the threat of those who would look to use this technology against us.”

Ian Hogarth, chair of the AI Security Institute, explained: “The Institute’s focus from the start has been on security and we’ve built a team of scientists concentrated on evaluating serious risks to the public. Our new criminal misuse team and deepening partnership with the national security community mark the next stage of tackling those risks.”