MI5 chief warns AI could change bioweapons threat

MI5 director general Ken McCallum warned Tuesday that artificial intelligence could “change the stakes” on bioweapons and was already affecting security risks faced by the United Kingdom.

In his annual threat briefing at MI5 headquarters in London, McCallum said AI was “supercharging the cybersecurity contest between attackers and defenders”. He said the technology had the potential to alter risks from existing or new bioweapons.

McCallum said MI5 had launched an AI Threat Assessment Centre this year at its headquarters to draw expertise from other bodies and assess threats.

He said the agency had already found suspects using AI to improve reconnaissance and attack methods, including AI-enabled drones.

McCallum also said MI5 was devoting more resources to threats from foreign states than at any time since the Cold War. He said the agency's state threats caseload had quadrupled over the past decade and described Russia as “aggressor number one”.

He said Iran was seeking to expand hybrid warfare and that more than 50 arrests had been made in Iran-linked operations over the past 12 months.