UK to spend £600 million on AI health and safety risks

The UK government has announced around £600 million in funding to tackle public health and security risks brought by AI, with the biosecurity plan getting the largest share. £100 million will build AI biosecurity labs to spot biological threats, plus £65 million for measures against pathogens. OpenAI and Anthropic will offer up to £200 million in AI model credits, with support from Google DeepMind. Another £120 million goes to the UK AI Safety Institute, £130 million to cyber security projects, and £60 million to a fund backing robotics and manufacturing firms. The rest will fund a new chip design academy, prizes for solving public policy challenges, and local AI projects. UK AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said the goal is to make the biosecurity lab a globally influential hub that protects people from emerging threats.