UK puts £100m into an AI Biosecurity Lab, with OpenAI and Anthropic pledging up to £200m in non-cash support

The UK government will put £100m into a new AI Biosecurity Lab that will use advanced AI to detect and respond to biological threats, the Cabinet Office said on Saturday. OpenAI and Anthropic will add up to £200m between them, but not as 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, and UK firm Basecamp Research will share its AI biology models. The government calls 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. It will be an independent non-profit, run along the lines of the AI Security Institute. Public bodies taking part include the UK Health Security Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, and the medicines regulator, the MHRA, will work with the lab on how to regulate medicines designed by AI. Several basics are still missing: the announcement did not name a director, a site or a start date, and it gave no time period for the £100m. The lab is part of a package of more than £600m for AI security set out ahead of Wednesday's Budget. The package also includes £120m for the AI Security Institute.