UK Aria chair Matt Clifford to resign over conflict-of-interest concerns
In the United Kingdom, Matt Clifford, chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), has decided to resign amid concerns over a possible conflict of interest. They arose after he announced that he would move into a full-time role at the US artificial intelligence company Anthropic while planning to retain his leadership position at Aria.
Parliamentary committee concerns
As The Guardian reports, Clifford was due to lead Anthropic's engagement with governments outside the United States, including the UK government. Aria funds advanced scientific and technological projects.
Chi Onwurah, chair of the parliamentary Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, called the combination of these roles an “obvious conflict of interest” and set out her concerns in a letter to AI Minister Kanishka Narayan.
Previously, Anthropic said that Clifford would not be involved in Aria matters related to the company. According to Anthropic, this arrangement had been agreed with the UK government.
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Work until November 6
Clifford said he had decided to leave the post so that his new role at Anthropic would not distract from Aria's work. He will remain chair of the agency until November 6, while appropriate safeguards will be applied to prevent potential conflicts of interest.
Onwurah welcomed the decision but said questions remained about why the situation had arisen, what conflict-of-interest assessments had been carried out, and guarantees of trust in Aria's governance. Non-party member of the House of Lords Beeban Kidron also approved of the resignation, stressing the need to clearly distinguish the interests of technology companies from the interests of citizens and the state.
Clifford became chair of Aria in 2022. In January 2025, he was appointed artificial intelligence adviser to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but left the post six months later for personal reasons. He previously co-founded the venture company Entrepreneurs First, advised former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and helped organise the UK's AI Safety Summit in 2023.
