The full £600M package: cyber shields, a chip academy, pathogen countermeasures

The lab anchors a roughly £600 million ($800 million) AI security package unveiled ahead of the UK Budget: £165 million for the national AI biosecurity initiative (£100M for AIBL, £65M for pathogen countermeasures), £130 million for AI-driven cyber defence, £120 million more for the AI Security Institute, and smaller buckets for a chip design academy, AI research contracts and a public-policy prize.

AI minister Kanishka Narayan said the aim is for AIBL to become a major global institution ‘bringing together world-leading scientific expertise to protect people from emerging biological threats.’ One caveat the headline skips: ‘up to £200 million’ in model credits is a ceiling, not a guaranteed amount.