Artificial Intelligence: National Security Implications

Baroness Stowell of Beeston Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

Sovereignty is not just about controlling AI models. It is about building leverage over key parts of the value chain and bringing to the table technologies that no one else can live without. It is about looking at where the UK has competitive strengths and where we can support our most promising sectors and start-ups, whether through financial investment, support for R&D or support with visas and so on. We have identified five priority areas: compute efficiency and sovereign architecture; next generation AI labs and model development; AI for health and life sciences; AI for scientific discovery; and AI trust, integrity and assurance. Those are the areas in which we think the UK has a competitive advantage.

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston (Con)]

My Lords, bearing in mind that Fable is Mythos with guardrails, have the Government asked Anthropic whether it is addressing the jailbreak that threatens cyber security to a Mythos-style extent? If they are not addressing it, why not? There appeared to be some reluctance from Anthropic when the flag was first raised, which is surprising, bearing in mind how much emphasis that company places on security and safety. Have the Government sought confirmation from the US Administration that if Anthropic addresses that jailbreak, the US Government will lift the export control alongside all the other controls they have placed on this model?

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

The focus of the AI Security Institute is on its great relationships with frontier developers in order to be able to test these and provide feedback to them. Indeed, it publishes its findings so that others can see them as well, allowing people to address those risks. As I mentioned before, we are in touch with the US Government, but it is not for me to talk about what the US Government do in terms of their export control decisions.