AI minister warns 'likely' UK's cyber defences will be breached

The UK's AI minister has warned it is "likely, if not inevitable" the country's cyber defences will at some point be breached.

Speaking at a press conference, Kanishka Narayan pointed to an incident of a rogue OpenAI agent hacking an Australian government website in June.

He said while no medical records are known to have been accessed in the attack, the incident should still "concern us".

Narayan said the government plans to put advanced AI to work to combat the threat, as he set out how the government plans to prepare for any serious future incidents.

The minister said the move would build on two existing pilots which have helped identify and fix over 1,000 vulnerabilities across government systems.

He said his message to the largest companies behind the world's most powerful AI systems was: "Listen when your scientists warn of serious dangers. Investigate unexpected behaviour. And if you cannot adequately control the risks, do not release the system."

In his speech, Narayan also confirmed scientists at the UK's AI watchdog, the AI Security Institute (AISI), were conducting "rigorous evaluations" of the latest generation of advanced AI models to "identify risks early" and "to test robust safeguards to help keep people safe".

AISI began evaluating risks of the latest frontier AI models, prior to their public release, shortly after it was established in November 2023.