George Williamson says ‘national resilience’ is key focus of ATI amid US and China’s runaway leadership in field
The UK must not become dependent on foreign AI systems that can be switched off at short notice and must develop its own versions of the technology, according to the head of the Alan Turing Institute.
The country needs a stronger domestic position in AI in response to the US and China’s runaway leadership in the field, with “national resilience” a key focus for ATI said George Williamson.
The institute is the UK’s leading AI research body and is under new leadership after the government, its main source of funding, demanded a strategic shift.
“As AI becomes more embedded in critical services, in domains like defence, national security, critical infrastructure and healthcare we shouldn’t depend solely on systems we can’t inspect or control, or that could be restricted or even switched off,” said Williamson.
In June Washington temporarily blocked the release outside the US of Anthropic’s latest models, and has reportedly asked leading AI labs to withhold their models from being tested by the UK’s AI Security Institute until they have been examined by AISI’s US counterpart.
“We’ve seen now that both political and commercial pressures mean we may not have access [to AI] in all the circumstances when we want it. That is not a place where a nation wants to be,” he said.
Williamson added: “There’s a set of circumstances where it would be a good idea for us to have something that we don’t have to ask other people’s permission to use.”
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