UK sets up AI Biosecurity Lab with £100 million in public funding

The UK government is establishing an independent nonprofit AI Biosecurity Lab to develop capabilities for detecting emerging biological threats earlier and accelerating vaccines, treatments and other medical countermeasures.

The lab will receive £100 million in public funding. OpenAI and Anthropic have separately committed resources the government values at up to £200 million, bringing the announced package to as much as £300 million. That company support is in kind, not additional public funding or cash investment.

OpenAI’s contribution includes £100 million in compute and model credits, plus trusted access to its models. It will be delivered through the company’s Rosalind Biodefense Program, which offers free GPT-Rosalind API access for defensive life-sciences work. According to the Cabinet Office, Anthropic has committed up to £100 million in model credits, trusted model access and dedicated technical support.

The lab sits within a broader National AI Biosecurity Initiative that connects it with the UK Health Security Agency, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and the life-sciences sector. It will also work with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on health-emergency preparedness and the regulation of AI-designed medicines.

Google DeepMind and Basecamp Research are joining as research and technical partners. The government said Basecamp will provide access to AI-biology models and expertise. DeepMind will pursue research collaborations and explore trusted access to Gemini and specialist science models.

The nonprofit structure is intended to give the lab enough autonomy to recruit technical staff and operate with the focus and speed of an AI-biology company, the government said. A scientific advisory committee drawn from academia, industry and the third sector is planned, but its membership and operating arrangements have not been published. The announcement also does not name the lab’s executive leadership, headquarters or staffing level.

The institution builds on the UK’s 2023 Biological Security Strategy, which organized national planning around understanding, preventing, detecting and responding to biological risks. The government describes detection and medical-countermeasure development as the lab’s initial remit; the announcement does not say those capabilities have already been deployed.