The UK government has launched the AI Biosecurity Lab (AIBL) under its National AI Biosecurity Initiative, committing £100 million ($134 million) in funding. OpenAI and Anthropic are each contributing £100 million in model credits, while Google DeepMind and UK firm Basecamp Research will also collaborate on the project. The lab will operate as an independent non-profit, pairing biosecurity and life sciences experts with frontier AI tools to detect biological threats and speed up vaccine and treatment development.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-24
The UK government has published a policy paper proposing new criminal offences and penalties for damaging or interfering with undersea cables and pipelines, including physical attacks, cyberattacks, and obstruction of repairs. Proposed penalties range from two years for gross negligence to 14 years for intentional sabotage, alongside potentially unlimited fines and new ministerial powers. The move follows reports of roughly 500 incidents involving Russian fishing trawlers loitering near UK undersea cables over the past four and a half years.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-23
Developers of the widely used PHP programming language disclosed critical security vulnerabilities this week, prompting websites worldwide to go offline as organisations rushed to patch systems. The UK government confirmed 32 services were unavailable and four partially unavailable as a precaution, with ministers saying no major public-facing critical services were affected and no breaches have been confirmed.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-10-22
UK AI Minister Kanishka Narayan told the BBC that artificial intelligence tools have been used to uncover around 500 previously unknown vulnerabilities across government systems. The disclosure came as organisations worldwide raced to patch a separate critical cyber-security flaw capable of affecting millions of websites.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-10-22
The BBC has announced plans to eliminate up to 2,000 positions over the coming years, alongside cuts to certain channels, citing immediate cost pressures. The move comes as the broadcaster negotiates with the U.K. government over the terms of its future funding and charter.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-21
The UK government has published a draft document called 'Using AI ethically and sustainably' that instructs civil servants on responsible AI use, including skipping courtesy phrases like 'thank you' to reduce environmental impact. The under-600-word guide also tells staff to follow department-specific AI policies, use lighter-weight AI models where possible (such as Gemini Flash over Gemini Pro), and verify AI outputs for accuracy and fairness before use.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-28
Apple pulled its opt-in Advanced Data Protection feature for new UK iCloud users in February 2025, leaving anyone who enabled it beforehand with full end-to-end encryption on most iCloud data while everyone else in the UK cannot activate it. The piece traces this back to Apple's decade-long fight against government backdoor demands, including its 2016 standoff with the FBI over the San Bernardino iPhone.
macanorak.com
· 2026-09-24
Apple appeared before a UK court seeking to overturn secrecy rules that bar it from confirming whether the government has ordered access to encrypted iCloud data. The case follows reports that Britain had secretly demanded a backdoor into encrypted iCloud content, a demand Apple responded to by pulling Advanced Data Protection for new UK users rather than weakening encryption globally. After the U.S. government pushed back, Britain narrowed its original worldwide request but later issued a fresh notice aimed specifically at UK-based Apple users.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-17
The UK Cabinet Office has rejected parliamentary proposals to create a legal mechanism allowing authorities to shut down dangerous AI models in an emergency. Officials argue that blocking access to such systems domestically would not stop their development or misuse abroad, effectively undermining the point of a kill switch. Though the bill can still move through Parliament, government opposition makes it unlikely to become law.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-11
The UK government has dismissed calls from MPs and peers to create a legal mechanism allowing authorities to shut down dangerous AI models in an emergency. The Cabinet Office argued that blocking AI access within the UK would not stop models being developed or misused elsewhere, making such a switch largely ineffective. While the proposal can still move through Parliament, government opposition makes it unlikely to become law.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-09-11
The UK government says Apple and Google failed to meet a three-month deadline to make it impossible to capture, view, or share child nudity images on their devices. In response, officials are introducing what they call world-first legislation that would impose fines and potential criminal liability on executives at companies that don't build these protections into phones and tablets sold in the UK.
wired.com
· 2026-09-08
A CDT-commissioned poll of 2,000 British adults, conducted by Public First, found 93% believe they have a right to private online conversations and 89% think no one should read their messages without a court order. Two-thirds said they wouldn't trust the current or any future UK government with the power to access encrypted chats, a view shared across supporters of all major parties.
theregister.com
· 2026-08-30
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