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Written question asked by Ben Spencer (Conservative) on Friday, 9 October 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 13 October 2026. It was answered by Chris McDonald (Labour) on Thursday, 15 October 2026 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

Artificial Intelligence: Research

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, how much of the £59 million backing the Advanced Research and Invention Agency's Safeguarded AI programme has been committed; how the programme's revised objectives are to be measured following the decision not to proceed with the planned Phase 2 call under Technical Area 3; and how the funding allocated to that call has been redeployed.

Answer

ARIA has autonomy over its funding decisions. ARIA’s Programme Directors are encouraged to monitor, course-correct, and terminate projects where redeploying funding would be most impactful.

The £59 million budget for ARIA’s Safeguarded AI programme is fully committed. Rather than launching a new Phase 2 call under Technical Area 3, ARIA redeployed funds to support project extensions for teams funded in Phase 1 who were demonstrating exceptional progress.

Following this change, ARIA refined the programme’s success measures to focus on progress towards real-world application. Emerging capabilities will be evaluated via a systematic, well-controlled benchmark suite, and their performance in demonstrations and field trials.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
32479
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Finance Research Artificial intelligence
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk