US AI developers can let Britain’s AI Security Institute test new models before release without going against the White House.
The Telegraph reported that the White House restored the UK AI Security Institute’s access to new AI models from US companies before their release.
In September, the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director asked Anthropic, OpenAI and other major AI companies to stop sharing their models with the institute. Anthropic then kept UK officials from reviewing its new Claude Mythos 5.1 model. The Telegraph says the White House reversed the request after lobbying by Britain’s AI minister, Kanishka Narayan, and the institute will get early access to models from Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI.
Under the change, American AI developers can give the British government’s testing lab early access to their models without going against the administration, the Telegraph said. That means a government lab outside the US will still check the most powerful American AI models for risks before companies and the public can use them.
Background: What Britain’s AI Security Institute does
Britain set up the AI Security Institute after the world’s first AI safety summit in 2023. The institute tests the most advanced AI models to find out what they can do and how they could be misused. It has more than 100 technical experts, according to Britain’s minister for AI.
No law requires AI companies to hand over their models. The UK government says companies take part voluntarily under written agreements they have signed with the institute.
Britain says the institute has kept its early access
Britain’s minister for AI, Kanishka Narayan, said in a speech that the government spent the past few weeks working with the US government and AI companies “to retain access for Britain’s AI Security Institute to the most powerful AI models before they are released.”
Narayan said the institute’s scientists are now testing the newest models, including Google’s Gemini 4 Argon, to find risks early. Google announced Argon on Sept. 30 and says the model can find software weaknesses and produce fixes.
Narayan did not mention the US request or its reversal.
The government has not said whether the institute tested Anthropic’s Mythos 5.1
On Sept. 16, Lord Nagaraju, a Labour member of the House of Lords, asked the government about Anthropic’s decision not to give the institute access to its Claude Mythos 5.1 model for testing before release. He also asked whether the institute had been given access to the model since that decision.
The government’s written answer on Oct. 12 did not mention Mythos 5.1. It said the institute tested OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra before the model’s public release and has tested dozens of models from OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic.
What’s still unconfirmed
The UK government has not publicly confirmed the reversal. Narayan’s speech and the government’s written answer to Parliament don’t mention it. The Telegraph doesn’t say why the White House made the request.
