Chancellor Announces £600m-Plus Budget Package for AI Security, Chip Design and Job Resilience Ahead of 28 October Budget

Chancellor John Healey announced on 24 October 2026 a package of more than £600m in public investment in artificial intelligence, to be incorporated into his Budget on 28 October 2026. The announcement, published on GOV.UK, covers four principal strands. On AI security, the package includes £165m for a new National AI Biosecurity Initiative, of which £100m is earmarked for a world-first AI Biosecurity Lab (AIBL) to apply AI to detection and surveillance of biological threats, and £65m for bio-surveillance and medical countermeasures. The AIBL is to be supported by up to £200m in AI model credits from OpenAI and Anthropic, alongside partnerships with Google DeepMind and London-based AI life sciences company Basecamp Research. A further £120m will go to the AI Security Institute for testing and research into AI capabilities and risks, £60m to a National Cyber Shield using agentic AI (AI systems capable of taking autonomous actions) to strengthen cyber defences, and £70m to a new National Exposure and Real-Time Vulnerability Centre to identify vulnerabilities across critical infrastructure. On homegrown capability, an additional £60m is allocated to the Sovereign AI Fund to invest in UK AI companies, with a new focus on physical and industrial AI, and a further £60m for the Sovereign AI R&D Procurement Scheme. £18m supports a new UK Advanced Chip Design Academy in Edinburgh. On labour market impact, £10m per year is committed to studying how AI will reshape jobs and industry, with a stated intent not to leave workers behind. A new AI Centre of Excellence is planned for Manchester.

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