MI5 chief announces centre to assess AI security risks

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum announced an AI Threat Assessment Centre on October 13, saying the new body will examine risks posed by artificial intelligence in cooperation with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre. He warned that AI could make biological weapons or new pathogens easier to develop, but said those dangers had not materialised. Speaking at the agency’s annual threat update at Thames House, McCallum said MI5 had encountered terrorists seeking to use AI to improve reconnaissance and attack methods. He added that AI-enabled drones were introducing another dimension to the threat. The account of attempted terrorist use came from McCallum’s speech; the reports provided no specific cases or supporting records. McCallum described the potential for AI to assist with existing or new biological weapons as the misuse risk he considered most serious. He said one concern was that the technology might put dangerous knowledge within reach of people who could not otherwise obtain it. A distinct possibility, he said, was that AI could generate pathogens not previously seen. He stressed that neither scenario had yet occurred.