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The UK’s signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, announced plans to build an AI-powered national cyber shield designed to detect and respond to threats across critical national infrastructure, airlines, telecoms and major companies.
Director Anne Keast-Butler said the agency has developed a blueprint to hardwire agentic AI into machine-speed cyber defence and aims to have the capability operational within five years.
The system would use autonomous AI agents to identify and repair vulnerabilities in energy, water, healthcare, transport and financial services, and to speed foreign-language translation and data analysis.
Keast-Butler framed the programme as a response to intensified hybrid operations from Russia and China’s emergence as a tech superpower, warning that frontier AI can both reveal thousands of software vulnerabilities and be used offensively.
The Cabinet Office has invited leading AI firms to collaborate and GCHQ stresses responsible, ethical integration and sovereign IT management.
Officials cited recent high-cost incidents such as the Jaguar Land Rover outage and urged businesses to adopt quantum-resistant encryption as quantum computing looms.
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Thursday, May 28, 2026 19:57 UTC
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