The UK AI Safety Institute has launched the Systemic AI Safety Grants Programme, aiming to safeguard societal systems during the rapid advancement and adoption of AI technologies. The program seeks to understand, anticipate, and mitigate potential risks.

The UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DIST) has announced that researchers working on enhancing resilience against AI risks can now access government grants.

In addition, the government also commits to introducing specific legislation for companies developing the most powerful AI models, ensuring a proportionate approach to regulation rather than new blanket rules on its use.

The new program hopes to drive research to identify the critical risks of frontier AI adoption in critical sectors like healthcare and energy services, identifying potential solutions that can then be transformed into tools that tackle potential AI risks in these areas.

“My focus is on speeding up the adoption of AI across the country so that we can kickstart growth and improve public services. Central to that plan though is boosting public trust in the innovations which are already delivering real change,” said Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle.

“That’s where this grants program comes in. By tapping into a wide range of expertise from industry to academia, we are supporting the research which will make sure that as we roll AI systems out across our economy, they can be safe and trustworthy at the point of delivery.” 

Upon the official launch of the program, the AI Safety Institute aims to fund approximately 20 projects with up to £200,000 each during its initial phase, which has a budget of £4 million. The total fund is valued at £8.5 million, with additional funding to be released in future phases.

Applicants are required to submit their proposals by November 26, and their research will be evaluated based on the problems it could address and the risks it mitigates. Furthermore, successful applicants will be announced by the end of January 2025, with the first grants to be awarded in February.