When the UK government announced the creation of the Alan Turing Institute in 2014 it promised a "fitting memorial" to the renowned computer scientist and artificial intelligence pioneer. More than a decade on, Britain's leading AI institute is in turmoil as staff warn it may be in danger of collapse and ministers demand a shift in focus to defence and security work. "The ATI brand is well recognised internationally," says Dame Wendy Hall, a professor of computer science at the University of Southampton and the co-chair of a 2017 government AI review. "If it ceases to be the national institute for AI and data science then we are at risk of weakening our international leadership in AI." Turing's legacy, as the mathematical genius who helped crack the Enigma code, outlined key concepts of AI and invented the eponymous test to discern whether a computer can show human intelligence, has been rebuilt and burnished in recent years. In 2013 he received a posthumous royal pardon 59 years after his death, having been convicted of gross indecency in 1952 after admitting a sexual relationship with a man.

The technology secretary has demanded an overhaul of the UK's leading artificial intelligence institute in a wide-ranging letter that calls for a switch in focus to defence and national security, as well as leadership changes. Peter Kyle said it was clear further action was needed to ensure the government-backed Alan Turing Institute met its full potential. In a letter to ATI's chair, seen by the Guardian, Kyle said the institute should be changed to prioritise defence, national security and "sovereign capabilities" – a reference to nation states being able to control their own AI technology. The call for new priorities implies a downgrading of ATI's focus on health and the environment, which are two of three core subjects for the institute, alongside defence and security, under its "Turing 2.0" strategy. "Moving forward, defence and national security projects should form a core of ATI's activities, and relationships with the UK's security, defence, and intelligence communities should be strengthened accordingly," Kyle wrote.

Behavioural analytics provides insights into individual and crowd behaviour, enabling analysis of what previously happened and predictions for how people may be likely to act in the future. In defence and security, this analysis allows organisations to achieve tactical and strategic advantage through influence campaigns, a key counterpart to physical activities. Before action can be taken, online and real-world behaviour must be analysed to determine the level of threat. Huge data volumes mean that automated processes are required to attain an accurate understanding of risk. We describe the mathematical basis of technologies to analyse quotes in multiple languages. These include a Bayesian network to understand behavioural factors, state estimation algorithms for time series analysis, and machine learning algorithms for classification. We present results from studies of quotes in English, French, and Arabic, from anti-violence campaigners, politicians, extremists, and terrorists. The algorithms correctly identify extreme statements; and analysis at individual, group, and population levels detects both trends over time and sharp changes attributed to major geopolitical events. Group analysis shows that additional population characteristics can be determined, such as polarisation over particular issues and large-scale shifts in attitude. Finally, MP voting behaviour and statements from publicly-available records are analysed to determine the level of correlation between what people say and what they do.

On Thursday (21 October 2021), NATO Defence Ministers agreed to NATO's first-ever strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The strategy outlines how AI can be applied to defence and security in a protected and ethical way. As such, it sets standards of responsible use of AI technologies, in accordance with international law and NATO's values. It also addresses the threats posed by the use of AI by adversaries and how to establish trusted cooperation with the innovation community on AI. Artificial Intelligence is one of the seven technological areas which NATO Allies have prioritized for their relevance to defence and security.

A summary of the strategy is available here. The strategy outlines how AI can be applied to defence and security in a protected and ethical way. As such, it sets standards of responsible use of AI technologies, in accordance with international law and NATO's values. It also addresses the threats posed by the use of AI by adversaries and how to establish trusted cooperation with the innovation community on AI. Artificial Intelligence is one of the seven technological areas which NATO Allies have prioritized for their relevance to defence and security.

Atos and Thales announce the creation of Athea, a joint venture that will develop a sovereign big data and artificial intelligence platform for public and private sector players in the defence, intelligence and internal state security communities. Athea will draw on the experience gained by both companies from the demonstration phase of the ARTEMIS programme, the big data platform of the French Ministry of Armed Forces. The contract to optimise and prepare the full-scale roll-out of the ARTEMIS platform was also awarded jointly to the two leaders by the French Defense Procurement Agency on April 30, 2021. The new joint venture will initially serve the French market before addressing European requirements at a later date. With the exponential rise in the number of sources of information, and increased pressure to respond more quickly to potential issues, State agencies need to manage ever-greater volumes of heterogeneous data and accelerate the development of new AI applications where security and sovereignty are key.

Paris, May 27, 2021 – Atos and Thales announce the creation of Athea, a joint venture that will develop a sovereign big data and artificial intelligence platform for public and private sector players in the defence, intelligence and internal state security communities. Athea will draw on the experience gained by both companies from the demonstration phase of the ARTEMIS programme, the big data platform of the French Ministry of Armed Forces. The contract to optimise and prepare the full-scale roll-out of the ARTEMIS platform was also awarded jointly to the two leaders by the French Defense Procurement Agency on April 30, 2021. The new joint venture will initially serve the French market before addressing European requirements at a later date. With the exponential rise in the number of sources of information, and increased pressure to respond more quickly to potential issues, State agencies need to manage ever-greater volumes of heterogeneous data and accelerate the development of new AI applications where security and sovereignty are key.