The United Kingdom government will invest £100m in a new AI Biosecurity Lab to detect and respond to biological threats using advanced artificial intelligence, with OpenAI and Anthropic committing up to £200m in combined support.
The Cabinet Office announced the initiative, describing it as the world’s first dedicated AI biosecurity organisation.
The lab will initially focus on two areas: identifying emerging biological threats at an early stage and accelerating the development of vaccines and treatments.
However, the contributions from the two AI companies will not be direct cash investments.
OpenAI will provide £100m worth of computing resources and model credits, alongside access to its AI models through its Rosalind Biodefense programme.
Anthropic, meanwhile, will contribute up to £100m in AI model credits, model access and technical support.
The initiative is expected to apply advanced AI capabilities to biological threat detection and help accelerate scientific research aimed at developing medical countermeasures.
The companies’ contributions will not be in cash. OpenAI will provide £100m worth of computing resources and model credits, alongside access to its AI models through its Rosalind Biodefense programme. Anthropic will contribute up to £100m in model credits, access to its models and technical support.
Google DeepMind will also participate in research projects and may provide access to its Gemini and other science-focused AI models. UK-based Basecamp Research will contribute its AI biology models to support the initiative.
The lab will operate as an independent non-profit organisation, modelled on the UK’s AI Security Institute.
However, the announcement did not disclose the lab’s director, location or launch date. It also did not specify the period over which the government’s £100m funding would be provided.
