UK must not be beholden to foreign AI, says Alan Turing Institute head
nordicinst · x · 2026-10-10
George Williamson, new head of the Alan Turing Institute, writes in The Guardian that the UK must not depend on foreign AI systems that could be "switched off at short notice", and must develop its own versions of the technology, with "national resilience" a key ATI focus.
- Context: runaway US and China leadership in AI, and the UK government — ATI's main funder — has demanded a strategic shift
- As AI embeds into defence, national security, critical infrastructure and healthcare, the UK shouldn't rely solely on systems it can't inspect, control, or that could be restricted
- The piece notes Washington temporarily blocked Anthropic's latest models from release outside the US in June, and reportedly asked leading labs to withhold models from foreign testing
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