The British government has announced about £600 million ($800 million) in funding, largely aimed at protecting against health and security threats posed by artificial intelligence (AI).
According to reports, the largest share of the funding will go to a new biosecurity initiative, including £100 million for an AI-powered laboratory to detect biological threats and £65 million to develop countermeasures against pathogens.
UK Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Kanishka Narayan, said the AI Biosecurity Lab aims to become a major global institution, bringing together leading scientific experts to protect people from emerging biological threats.
READ ALSO: Nigeria, UK Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation Across Key Sectors
Tech companies OpenAI and Anthropic will offer up to £200 million of model credits to the biosecurity initiative and Google Deepmind and London based AI life sciences startup Basecamp Research will offer other assistance.
Britain’s government will give its existing AI Security Institute an extra £120 million, while £130 million will go towards new projects to improve cyber defences.
Funding will also support infrastructure and the wider economy through the National Cyber Shield and the National Exposure and Real Time Vulnerability Centre.
 in funding, largely aimed at protecting against health and security AI){kind=link}