As part of the UK’s National AI Biosecurity Initiative, the government is establishing the AI Biosecurity Lab (AIBL). The AI Biosecurity Lab will be the world’s first dedicated AI biosecurity organisation.
Backed by £100 million of government funding, and up to £200 million in company commitments from OpenAI and Anthropic, it will develop technical capabilities that help the UK better understand, prevent, detect and respond to biological threats, building on the UK’s broader Biological Security Strategy.
AIBL will also partner with Google DeepMind and Basecamp Research on research collaborations and AI for science tools.
Advances in AI are creating unprecedented opportunities for scientific discovery, but they are also changing the biological risk landscape. AI can accelerate research, improve our understanding of diseases, and support the discovery and development of new medical countermeasures. However, increasingly capable AI systems also create new biological risks and could lower barriers to harmful activity.
AIBL will harness frontier AI to support partners, including the UK’s national biosecurity centres and world-leading life sciences industry, to detect biological threats earlier and accelerate the discovery, development and testing of vaccines, treatments and other medical countermeasures, enabling the UK and the world to respond faster to disease outbreaks and strengthening resilience against future biological risks.
Initial delivery will focus on developing and deploying capabilities that:
- Enhance early detection of emerging biological threats.
- Accelerate the development of vaccines, treatments and other medical countermeasures.
The AI Biosecurity Lab will work with public-sector organisations, academic institutions, industry partners and frontier AI companies in the UK and internationally.
AIBL will operate as an independent, non-profit organisation, aiming to position the UK as a global leader in AI-enabled biosecurity. Modelled on the AI Security Institute, it will bring together leading technical talent from industry and academia, with the autonomy to operate at the pace of a frontier AI–bio company.
A scientific advisory committee comprising experts from academia, industry, and the third sector will guide its work.