UK AI Minister Warns Cyber Defences Will Likely Be Breached

UK AI minister Kanishka Narayan has warned that an AI driven cyberattack similar to an OpenAI agent's unauthorised access to Australia's Medicare portal is likely in the UK. "It seems likely, if not inevitable, that our own cyber defences will be breached," he said in a speech at Imperial College London, The Guardian reports. The Australian government has said no personal medical records are known to have been accessed in that incident, which the minister dated to June.

Security minister Dan Jarvis will lead a programme to strengthen defences against cyberattacks, including from AI, and the government will consider using the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to introduce AI safety rules such as mandatory reporting of incidents. Narayan also confirmed that the AI Security Institute is evaluating the latest models, including Google's Gemini, before release, after the government worked with the US to retain that access.

The Ada Lovelace Institute's Nuala Polo said the announcement committed the government to "very little," with "no new regulatory power, no timetable and no obligation on AI developers," the BBC reports.