The UK government will put £100m into a new AI Biosecurity Lab, which will use advanced AI to spot and respond to biological threats. OpenAI and Anthropic will add up to £200m between them, the Cabinet Office said on Saturday.
The government called the lab the world’s first dedicated AI biosecurity organisation. It will start with two tasks: finding new biological threats early, and speeding up work on vaccines and treatments.
However, the companies’ share is not cash. OpenAI will give £100m in compute and model credits, plus access to its models through its Rosalind Biodefense programme. Anthropic will give up to £100m in model credits, model access, and technical support.
Google DeepMind will also join research projects and may give access to its Gemini and science models. In addition, UK firm Basecamp Research will share its AI biology models.
The lab will be an independent non-profit, run along the lines of the AI Security Institute. The announcement did not name a director, a site, or a start date. It also gave no time period for the £100m.
Several public bodies will take part, including the UK Health Security Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. The medicines regulator, the MHRA, will work with the lab on how to regulate medicines designed by AI.
The lab is part of a package of more than £600m for AI security, set out before the Budget on Wednesday. It also includes £120m for the AI Security Institute, City AM reported.
Chancellor John Healey announced the package. Meanwhile, AI minister Kanishka Narayan called the lab a major new global institution, according to the Evening Standard.
The deal follows a similar offer earlier this month. Nvidia pledged $250m of compute to UK AI safety research, also in computing power rather than cash.
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