MI5 Announces AI Threat Assessment Centre as Chief Warns AI Is Supercharging National Security Threats

What happened

In his annual speech, McCallum said the UK is entering a “new era of national security,” with threats from states and terrorists alike potentially supercharged by AI; state-threat and counterterrorism missions are now of roughly equal scale. He named Russia, Iran and China as the main state-threat sources, and said MI5 is devoting more resources to countering state threats in 2026 than during the Cold War.

“Today AI is already supercharging the cybersecurity contest between attackers and defenders.”

— MI5 Director General Ken McCallum

He also announced the creation of the AI Threat Assessment Centre: housed at MI5 headquarters, it brings together experts from the National Crime Agency (NCA), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC, part of GCHQ) and the AI Security Institute to produce all-source assessments that “separate the bluster from the realities” of AI-driven risks.

“Not yet realised – but the misuse case to which I'd attach greatest weight – is AI's potential to change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons.”

— MI5 Director General Ken McCallum

Key facts

1. New body: the AI Threat Assessment Centre (AITAC), housed at MI5 headquarters, pooling experts from the NCA, the NCSC and the AI Security Institute to assess the potential risks from advancing AI.
2. Observed misuse: MI5 has caught terrorists using AI to improve reconnaissance and attack methods, including AI-enabled drones; AI is intensifying the cybersecurity contest between attackers and defenders.
3. Heaviest concern: AI's potential to change the stakes on existing or new bioweapons – the misuse McCallum weighs most heavily, though not yet realised; he warned that lower-sophistication actors could gain a capability uplift in the AI era if guardrails fail.
4. Context: MI5's state-threat caseload has quadrupled over the past decade; Russia remains “aggressor number one,” Iran is accused of expanding hybrid-warfare operations, and China of conducting espionage in the UK.