New Turing Programme Aims to Harness AI for National Priorities

The Alan Turing Institute has unveiled a new science and innovation programme, marking a major strategic shift for the national institute for data science and AI.

The programme, announced following a significant organisational transformation, focuses on three key areas: defence and national security, environment and sustainability, and health. Each area will be driven by “high-impact missions” aimed at translating AI and data science research into real-world solutions.

Professor Mark Girolami, chief scientist at The Alan Turing Institute, said the new programme reflects the Institute’s mission to ensure digital technologies are used to strengthen the UK.

“Digital, Data, and AI technologies have huge transformative potential and as the national institute our purpose is to ensure they are adopted in ways that change our country for the better; in the hands of our public servants and critical industries, shaping better decisions, boosting productivity and growing our economy,” he said.

“Our programme of science and innovation is designed to play to the UK’s strengths, developing specialist capabilities that make our society more secure, healthy and resilient.”

Missions to Address Major National Challenges

In defence and national security, the Institute will launch a mission to develop AI tools that protect the UK’s critical national infrastructure – including energy, transport and utilities – from cyberattacks. It will also deepen collaboration with the defence and security communities both in the UK and internationally, advancing research in AI security, protective sensing and strategic threat assessment.

Former RAF Air Commodore Blythe Crawford CBE, who recently commanded the UK’s Air & Space Warfare Centre, has been commissioned to advise the Turing’s Board on how best to support government ambitions in defence, national security and intelligence. Crawford’s recommendations are expected in November.

In the environment and sustainability domain, the Institute will build sovereign capability for environmental forecasting, with the aim of developing faster, more accurate prediction tools for weather, oceans and sea ice. It said its recent work has already delivered forecasts “tens of times faster…and using thousands of times less computing power” than traditional systems.

A sustainability mission will also target emissions reductions across transport, manufacturing and infrastructure, accelerating progress towards Net Zero.

In health, the Institute will pioneer the use of cardiac digital twins – virtual models of individual human hearts – to improve interventions and outcomes for critically ill cardiac patients. The mission builds on the first NHS trial of digital twin technology at scale, aiming to “save lives and money for the NHS while advancing the UK’s position in AI-driven healthcare innovation.”

Institute Under Scrutiny

The announcement follows an internal transformation that has refocused the Institute’s strategy around fewer, higher-impact programmes. As part of this shift, the Institute has closed, spun out or completed 78 projects not aligned with its new direction.

The Institute has faced intense scrutiny in recent months following whistleblower allegations of financial mismanagement, a toxic workplace culture and failures to deliver on its mission as the UK’s national body for AI. The claims, which emerged in August, came amid reports that then technology secretary Peter Kyle had considered withdrawing the Institute’s £100 million funding.

However, chair Dr Doug Gurr has now told the BBC there is “no substance” to the accusations, confirming they were “independently investigated” by a third party. “I fully sympathise that going through any transition is always challenging,” he said. “It’s been challenging for a lot of people and a number of concerns have been raised. Every single one of those has been independently investigated and we’ve not found any substance.”

Despite the findings, the Institute continues to navigate a period of significant upheaval, with several senior figures – including three directors, the chief technology officer and most recently chief executive Dr Jean Inne – departing in recent months.

The organisation also remains under investigation by the Charity Commission, though Dr Gurr gave no indication that he plans to step down should issues be identified.

Gurr said the Institute has undergone “major changes to transform into an institute that’s tightly focused on adding unique value for the UK.”

“I’m hugely excited to see what the Turing will achieve over the coming years, putting digital, data, and AI science and technologies to work for the benefit of all UK citizens,” he said.