A group of influential members of parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom have advised the government to collaborate with democratic allies to address the potential misuse of artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing London’s aim to be a key player in advancing the emerging technology.
On Aug. 31, the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee (SITC), an advisory body to the government, recommended in a report that Britain aligns with similar nations sharing democratic values. This collaboration aims to collectively safeguard against actors, whether state-affiliated or not, who seek to misuse AI for their objectives.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak intends to convene a summit in early November, bringing together global leaders and tech leaders at Bletchley Park, a historic World War Two code-breaking center. The goal is to establish guidelines for AI, enabling the U.K. to assume a more substantial role in both regulating and becoming a central hub for the AI industry.
— Science, Innovation and Technology Committee (@CommonsSITC) August 31, 2023
The report highlights AI’s capacity to spread deepfakes, which could deceive the public, and the risk of bad actors leveraging the tech to develop new biological and chemical weapons.
The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee recently urged the government to abandon proposals granting AI developers unrestricted access to train their systems using pre-existing music, literature and art. In a different report dated Aug. 30, the committee cautioned that the government’s initial proposal to exempt AI-driven text and data mining from copyright protections could diminish the value of arts and culture, relegating them to mere resources for AI advancement.
Within the government, discussions have arisen regarding the inclusion of China in the November meeting. This gathering is set to convene the Group of Seven global leaders, along with industry executives, as reported by Bloomberg, citing sources knowledgeable about the matter.
The SITC report advised the government to draft an AI bill for deliberation during an upcoming session of parliament on Nov. 7. Failure to do so could result in the U.K. falling behind other legislative efforts, notably the ongoing discussions concerning the EU’s AI Act, the report states.
There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.
John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.
This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.
Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”
A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.
The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.
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This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.
The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.
While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.
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From March: How will the UK scale up defence?
A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.
The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.
“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”
Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.
The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.
Image: PM Sir Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey on a nuclear submarine earlier this year. Pic: Crown Copyright 2025
On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.
Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.
He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.
“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.
“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”