Tech & AI
UK sets out a £600 million-plus AI package before the Budget, as OpenAI and Anthropic pledge up to £200 million in credits to a new biosecurity lab
The Treasury plan puts about £365 million into AI security, including £120 million more for the AI Security Institute, alongside new money for sovereign AI investment and chip-design skills.
HedgeWeekly Tech & AI Desk ·
The UK government on October 24 set out an artificial-intelligence package worth more than £600 million, which Chancellor John Healey plans to fold into next week's Budget, HM Treasury said. The largest block, about £365 million, targets AI security: £165 million for a National AI Biosecurity Initiative, an extra £120 million for the AI Security Institute, the state body that tests advanced models, £60 million for a 'National Cyber Shield' that uses AI agents for cyber defence, and £70 million for a centre that will use AI to find weaknesses in critical infrastructure.
At the centre of the biosecurity plan is a new AI Biosecurity Lab, set up as an independent non-profit with £100 million of government money, the Cabinet Office said. OpenAI will contribute £100 million in computing power and model credits plus access to its most capable relevant models, and Anthropic will provide up to £100 million in model credits, model access and technical support, taking total backing to up to £300 million. Google DeepMind and London-based Basecamp Research are partners. The lab will first focus on spotting emerging biological threats earlier and speeding up vaccines and treatments; a further £65 million goes to biosurveillance and countermeasures for priority pathogens.
The package also adds £60 million to the Sovereign AI Fund, which invests directly in UK AI companies and will now cover robotics, autonomous systems and advanced manufacturing, plus £60 million for a scheme under which the state buys AI research and products, and £18 million for a chip-design skills academy. Smaller sums include £23 million over three years for an AI Economics Institute, £30 million for local AI partnerships, a £15 million challenge prize and £10 million a year to study AI's effect on jobs. City AM noted the plan follows Barclays' announcement days earlier of about 5,000 job cuts tied partly to AI.
Why it matters: The deal shows frontier labs increasingly paying for public-sector partnerships in kind, through compute and model credits rather than cash, a model that deepens their ties with governments while costing them mainly spare capacity. For investors in UK AI, the extra sovereign fund money and procurement budget are small next to private rounds but signal where state demand will go: security, health and industrial automation. Watch the Budget itself for tax or capital-allowance changes affecting data centres and tech hiring, and for whether other governments copy the credits-for-access structure.