Nation-state threats are targeting UK AI research

• The Alan Turing Institute has outlined recommendations to protect UK AI research
• Nation-state threat actors pose a serious risk to the UK's AI development
• Universities are increasingly targeted, so need to up protection

The Alan Turing Institute has issued a report warning ‘urgent action’ is needed to protect the UK’s ‘world leading AI research ecosystem’.

An urgent, coordinated response from the UK Government and higher education institutions is needed, the report says, to develop protections for the research sector. This includes recommendations to create a classified mapping of the AI higher education research ecosystem, and provide guidance to universities.

Higher education institutions in the UK are increasingly targeted by threat actors, with almost half experiencing a cyberattack every week. The report confirms that nation-based actors have been discovered using “espionage, theft, and duplicitous collaboration” to try and keep pace with the UK’s research and development.

Culture change

The rapid development of AI research makes it vulnerable to nation-backed threat actors looking to steal intellectual property, and using it for malicious purposes.

Concerns were raised about hostile states potentially gaining access to the “dual-use” nature of the technology, meaning that the tool can be repurposed or reverse engineered to be used for malicious activity, such as defence tools being converted to help attackers.

The report outlines a need for a change in culture to focus on building risk awareness and security-mindedness, and encouraging "consistent compliance” with guidelines and best practice.

The research also wants to address the UK's AI skills gap by ensuring domestic talent is retained, and delivering research security training for staff and research students. Research intensive universities are also advised to set up research scrutiny committees in order to support risk assessments for AI researchers.

“Furthering AI research is rightly a top priority for the UK, but the accompanying security risks cannot be ignored as the world around us grows ever more volatile,” says Megan Hughes, Research Associate at the Alan Turing institute.

“Academia and the government must commit to and support this long overdue culture change to strike the right balance between academic freedom and protecting this vital asset.”

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