Up to £8.5 million in grants will be offered by the UK government for researchers to study how to protect society from AI risks such as deepfakes and cyber-attacks, as well as harness AI’s benefits.

Tech secretary Michelle Donelan announced the funding programme at the AI Seoul Summit today (22 May), which is co-hosted by South Korea and the UK.

The most promising proposals will be developed into longer-term projects and could receive further funding.

Dubbed the “AISI Systemic Safety” programme, it will be led within the UK’s AI Safety Institute and by Shahar Avin, an AI safety researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CESR).

It will also be delivered in partnership with The Alan Turing Institute, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and in collaboration with other AI safety institutions across the globe.

The new programme has been created to broaden the Institute’s remit to include the field of systemic AI safety, which aims to understand how to mitigate AI risks at a societal level and study how institutions, systems, and infrastructure can effectively adapt.

“When the UK launched the world’s first AI Safety Institute last year, we committed to achieving an ambitious yet urgent mission to reap the positive benefits of AI by advancing the cause of AI safety,” said Donelan.

“With evaluation systems for AI models now in place, Phase 2 of my plan to safely harness the opportunities of AI needs to be about making AI safe across the whole of society.

“This is exactly what we are making possible with this funding which will allow our Institute to partner with academia and industry to ensure we continue to be proactive in developing new approaches that can help us ensure AI continues to be a transformative force for good.

“I am acutely aware that we can only achieve this momentous challenge by tapping into a broad and diverse pool of talent and disciplines, and forging ahead with new approaches that push the limit of existing knowledge and methodologies.”

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The AISI Systemic Safety programme aims to attract proposals from researchers across both the private and public sector, and who will work closely with the UK government.

It will run alongside the Institute’s evaluation and testing of AI models, where the Institute will continue to work with AI labs to set standards for development and help steer AI towards having a positive impact.

Professor Helen Margetts, director of public policy at The Alan Turing Institute, also commented on the programme: “Rapidly advancing technology is bringing profound changes to the information environment, shaping our social, economic and democratic interactions.

“That is why funding AI safety is vital – to ensure we are all protected from the potential risks of misuse while maximising the benefits of AI for a positive impact on society.”

The announcement comes amid a major international summit in Seoul, focusing on AI safety, addressing the capabilities of advanced AI models, and building on the Bletchley Declaration and wider agreements for tackling AI risks.