UK to launch National Centre for Information Defence to counter AI disinformation

The UK government is setting up a National Centre for Information Defence to counter disinformation and AI-enabled information attacks from hostile states, including Russia. The Centre will draw together intelligence agencies, law enforcement and social media companies, with a remit to detect, attribute and disrupt foreign information attacks while helping communities build resilience.

Announcing the Centre at the UN General Assembly in New York, Andy Burnham pointed to Russia’s use of bots, fake websites, falsified newspaper articles and forged branding from British organisations. He warned that AI will significantly increase the scale of the threat.

Andrew Bud, founder and CEO of iProov, said the Centre’s success will depend on how quickly it moves from identifying threats to disrupting them, arguing that deepfakes are now too sophisticated and scalable for individuals or platforms to spot after the fact. Elizabeth Anderson, CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, welcomed the recognition that inequality can leave people more vulnerable to foreign influence, but cautioned against framing the problem purely as individual susceptibility.