Alan Turing Institute refocuses on security following Peter Kyle intervention

The Alan Turing Institute (ATI) has begun a significant organisational transformation, which will see it pivot towards major challenges in defence and national security.

In July, Peter Kyle, during his tenure as secretary of state at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, wrote to the chair of the Alan Turing Institute, Douglas Gurr, calling for the institute to change its strategic focus. In the letter, Kyle said: “ATI’s current non-defence activity would need to be reoriented to support this renewed focus and strengthen the UK’s sovereign AI capabilities.”

Kyle wanted the Alan Turing Institute to focus on delivering cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) research of the type that cannot or would not be undertaken by industry or individual universities.

He also called on ATI to deliver tangible impact in support of government missions and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and ecosystem building. Overall, Kyle wanted to see ATI develop a coherent programme of work that furthers government’s defence, national security and sovereign ambitions.

Two months after receiving the letter, in September, Jean Innes stepped down as CEO of the Alan Turing Institute. At the time, she said: “It has been a great honour to lead the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, implementing a new strategy and overseeing significant organisational transformation. With that work concluding, and a new chapter starting for the institute, now is the right time for new leadership, and I am excited about what it will achieve.”

Responding to government calls for the Alan Turing Institute to meet evolving national needs, the institute’s board commissioned former Royal Air Force commodore Blythe Crawford to explore how the institute can best support the scale of government AI ambitions in defence, national security and intelligence.

The transformation is now taking place, and has resulted in a new science and innovation programme, which has seen the Alan Turing Institute streamline its strategic focus and significantly reduce the number of research programmes. This has resulted in the closure, spinning out or completion of 78 research projects which do not align with the institute’s new strategic direction.

Ahead of Blythe’s recommendations to the board, due in November, the Alan Turing Institute said it would be taking forward a new mission that will develop tools to defend the UK’s critical national infrastructure (for example, energy, transport and utilities) against cyber attacks.

The Alan Turing Institute also plans to deepen existing partnerships with the national security and defence communities nationally and internationally to build strategic advantage in AI, in areas such as AI security, protective sensing and strategic threat assessment. Its existing work in this area includes the Defence Artificial Intelligence Research Centre, the AI for Cyber Defence Research Centre and the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security.

Mark Girolami, chief scientist at the Alan Turing Institute, said: “Digital, data and AI technologies have huge transformative potential, and as the national institute, our purpose is to ensure they are adopted in ways that change our country for the better; in the hands of our public servants and critical industries, shaping better decisions, boosting productivity and growing our economy.

“Our programme of science and innovation is designed to play to the UK’s strengths, developing specialist capabilities that make our society more secure, healthy and resilient.”