ATI head Williamson urges Britain to develop its own AI — The Guardian

George Williamson, head of the Alan Turing Institute, said that the United Kingdom should not depend on foreign artificial intelligence systems whose access could be restricted or cut off. The country should develop its own AI technologies, The Guardian reports.

Technological resilience

According to Williamson, the Alan Turing Institute's priority will be national resilience amid US and Chinese leadership in AI. He stressed that the state should not rely solely on systems it cannot verify or control and that may be restricted or switched off.

Williamson noted that this issue is particularly important as AI is increasingly used in defence, national security, critical infrastructure and healthcare. He believes that political and commercial pressure could restrict the country's access to such technologies when needed.

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In June, Washington temporarily blocked the release of Anthropic's latest models outside the United States. In addition, according to the publication, leading AI laboratories asked that their models not be provided for testing to the UK's AI Safety Institute until they had been checked by the US counterpart of that institution.

Smaller models and countering disinformation

Williamson believes that Britain is unlikely to match the largest AI laboratories in terms of funding. At the same time, the country can create intellectual property that it owns and smaller models available to startups.

He also called dependence on Chinese systems a risk, saying that they may not align with the country's values. The institute plans to work on using AI for socially beneficial tasks, from weather forecasting and agriculture to detecting disinformation. Williamson added that state-backed disinformation campaigns are dangerous for democracy, while climate challenges should be viewed as a component of national security alongside defence.