The United Kingdom (U.K.) is all set to build a state-of-the-art Laboratory for AI Security Research (LASR) to help and protect Britain and its allies against emerging threats, such as cyber-attacks. The laboratory, which will receive a basic state funding of £8.22 million, will aim to bring together experts from different industries, academia, and government to determine AI’s impact on national security.

The laboratory project is crucial with regards to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies’ and the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Artificial Intelligence assisted drone warfare has become a controversial subject in the ongoing war in Ukraine, with several human rights organizations asking for ban on autonomous killing machines.

According to a Press Release issued by the Government of the UK, the Duchy of Lancaster said at the NATO Cyber Defense Conference, At Lancaster House, “NATO requires to progress the acclimate to the AI world, because as the technology expands, the threat also expands. The Key partners in the new lab include GCHQ, the National Cyber Security Centre, the MOD’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, and prestigious academic institutions such as the University of Oxford and Queen’s University Belfast.

Chancellor also said that the U.K. knows all the activities of Russia, He further added, “Don’t be in any confusion, the United Kingdom and others in this room are watching Russia. We know absolutely what they are doing, and we are checking their attacks both publicly and behind the scenes. But Britain has accomplished long ago the value of standing powerful and facing such actions.”

The ambition forms part of the government’s major efforts to advance the UK’s cyber defenses and to grow the economy, which combines the approaching Cyber Security and Resilience Bill and the recent allocation of data centers as demanding national infrastructure.

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