- Support unveiled for researchers to boost defences against societal risks including deepfakes and cyber-attacks
- First phase of AI Safety Institute scheme to provide researchers with up to £200,000 in grants launches
- Programme dedicated to 'systemic AI safety' to boost public trust as technology is rolled out across the economy
Researchers focused on boosting society's resilience against AI risks such as deepfakes, misinformation, and cyber-attacks, can now access government grants to drive forward their work which will help ensure the safety of AI, as the UK taps into its potential to spark economic growth and improvements to public services.
The scheme launched today (Tuesday 15th October), in partnership with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is focused on how society can be protected from the potential risks of AI. It will also support research to tackle the threat of AI systems failing unexpectedly, for example in the financial sector.
Tackling these risks head on will boost public confidence in the technology which holds enormous potential to spark long-term growth, while keeping the UK at the heart of research into responsible and trustworthy AI development. Ensuring public confidence in AI is central to the government's plans for seizing its potential, as the UK harnesses the technology to drive up productivity and deliver public services which are fit for the future.
To ensure the UK can continue to harness the enormous opportunities of AI, the government has also committed to introduce highly-targeted legislation for the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models, ensuring a proportionate approach to regulation rather than new blanket rules on its use.
Systemic AI safety is focused on the systems and infrastructure where AI is being deployed across different sectors. The programme launched today hopes to spark a broad range of research to identify the critical risks of frontier AI adoption in critical sectors like healthcare and energy services, identifying potential solutions which can then be transformed into long-term tools which tackle potential AI risks in these areas.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle said:
My focus is on speeding up the adoption of AI across the country so that we can kickstart growth and improve public services. Central to that plan though is boosting public trust in the innovations which are already delivering real change.
That's where this grants programme comes in. By tapping into a wide range of expertise from industry to academia, we are supporting the research which will make sure that as we roll AI systems out across our economy, they can be safe and trustworthy at the point of delivery.
Launching the formal opening of its Systemic Safety Grants Programme, the UK's AI Safety Institute is looking to back around 20 projects with funding of up to £200,000 each over the course of its first phase, worth £4 million. In total the fund is worth £8.5 million, first announced at May's AI Seoul Summit, with the additional cash to become available in due course as further phases are launched.
Applicants will be assessed on the potential issues their research could solve and what risks it addresses, having until 26th of November to submit their proposals.
AI Safety Institute Chair Ian Hogarth, said:
This grants programme allows us to advance broader understanding on the emerging topic of systemic AI safety. It will focus on identifying and mitigating risks associated with AI deployment in specific sectors which could impact society, whether that's in areas like deepfakes or the potential for AI systems to fail unexpectedly.
By bringing together researcher from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds into this process of contributing to a broader base of AI research, we're building up empirical evidence of where AI models could pose risks so we can develop a rounded approach to AI safety for the global public good.
The AI Safety Institute's work in evaluating the safety of AI models is just one part of its mission, and the grants programme is set to deliver new research which will ultimately help societies across the world to better manage changes the technology could bring.
UK-based organisations are eligible to apply for grant funding via a dedicated website, and the programme's opening phase will aim to deepen understandings over what challenges AI is likely to pose to society in the near future. Projects can also include international partners, boosting collaboration between developers and the AI research community while strengthening the shared global approach to the safe deployment and development of the technology.
Successful applicants will be confirmed in the end of January 2025, with the first round of grants then set to be awarded in February.
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