Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 1h

Defence AI Assurance: Identifying promising practice and a system card template for Defence

❓ How can the MoD’s AI policy be implemented in real-world operations?

Read the latest report from Turing Senior Research Associate, Anna Knack and co-authors: https://bit.ly/48mUMIt

Defence AI Assurance: Identifying Promising Practice and A System Card Template for Defence

The Alan Turing Institute conducted this study in collaboration with Accenture and in coordination with the Ministry of Defence’s Defence AI and Autonomy Uni

bit.ly

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 1d

💻 Children are facing unprecedented exposure to harmful content online

💡 In a new CETaS Briefing Paper, Sam Stockwell & Rosamund Powell explore how the 🇬🇧, 🇺🇸, 🇪🇺 & 🇦🇺 are using #AgeAssurance tech to tackle this problem, unpacking limits & lessons.

http://bit.ly/4765PDQ

Age Assurance Technologies and Online Safety

bit.ly

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 1d

To ensure our qualitative research is as open as possible, we’ve taken a reproducible approach by preregistering our study design.

➡️ Access the preregistration here: osf.io/d9mgb

OSF

osf.io

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 1d

🔎 New qualitative preregistration published: Advancing Biomedical Data Science Careers

In collaboration with @ebi.embl.org, we’re addressing the urgent need in biomedical research to better understand data science careers.

Learn more about the project: bit.ly/4o0Vdg6

Advancing Biomedical Data Science Careers

Conferences, workshops, and other events from around the Turing Network

bit.ly

1

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 2d

📢 Survey call: Data-Centric Engineering community

Do you work at the intersection of AI, data science and engineering?

💡 Share your career path, diversity and role insights in our survey: https://bit.ly/48RGRua

#DataCentricEngineering #DCE

Data-Centric Engineering community survey

Share your experience. We are interested in learning more about the people that make up our community.

bit.ly

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 3d

How is AI changing our lives?

🎧 The Turing's Adrian Weller joined Brian Cox, Neil Lawrence, Steph Wright and Jeanette Winterson to explore this fundamental question.

Listen to the latest episode of @crick.ac.uk ’s A Question of Science podcast: https://www.lnk.to/AQOSAISH

Group photo on podcast stage with Neil Lawrence, Steph Wright, Brian Cox, Jeanette Winterson and Adrian Weller

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 6d

Explore the country profiles published so far:

🇨🇦 Canada: bit.ly/4o5iHko

🇪🇺 European Union: bit.ly/4mFw89n

🇮🇳 India: bit.ly/42R2jM4

🇸🇬 Singapore: bit.ly/4gPiqPU

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 6d

This project will explore:
✅ Shifting national priorities on AI
✅ Dynamics of cooperation & competition
✅ Potential areas of international alignment

1 2

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 6d

🌍What does the future hold for international AI governance?

As the world balances competition with international cooperation & safety, we’re mapping the evolving landscape of AI regulation & standardisation through a series of country profiles: https://bit.ly/4pQiQK4

AI governance around the world

bit.ly

1

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 7d

🌐 Enhancing global AI governance

As part of our work w/ the FCDO we’re in Hanoi this week hosting a multi-day workshop on AI governance & ethics.

Supporting a responsible environment for tech development is key to protecting those at risk while enabling innovation to thrive.

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 7d

👥 Persona agents are widely used in roles such as AI assistants & NPCs, but to what extent do they replicate the richness of human behaviour?

A new CETaS Expert Analysis explores how psychometrics can – and can’t – provide insights into these agents: https://bit.ly/4o0cEh0

Patterns, Not People: Personality Structures in LLM-powered Persona Agents

bit.ly

1

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 8d

💡 Want to apply your data skills to real-world challenges?

Apply to work on challenges with real-world datasets from the Alan Turing Institute in collaboration with innovateuk.bsky.social #BridgeAI (supported by PwC).

📅26 Jan – 6 Feb
⏰Applications close: 26 Oct
➡️https://bit.ly/42EKbF3

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 10d

🔎 Examining AI assurance from a UK Defence perspective

New research published today with the Ministry of Defence, Defence AI Centre and Accenture, explores the assurance of safe and responsible AI in defence, considering real-world military use cases.

➡️Learn more: http://bit.ly/470EF24

New research paves way for safe and responsible AI in defence

The Alan Turing Institute in coordination with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and

bit.ly

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 12d

AI for Decarbonisation: Building Sustainable AI webinar

📅6 Oct, 11:30–12:30
➡️Register: bit.ly/4gHcWXv

Hear from experts covering practical pathways to decarbonising the AI supply chain:

✅E-waste & dark data
✅Efficient algorithms & data architectures
✅Next-gen hardware

ADViCE Webinar Series: Building Sustainable AI

Who should attend? This event will be of interest to professionals and stakeholders across public sector, AI, net zero, cleantech, energy, tran

bit.ly

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 14d

#TuringConnections PhD Student Presentations & Networking Day

📅24 Oct 2025, 10:00–17:00
📍 @ucl.ac.uk
➡️Register by 15 Oct 2025: bit.ly/4pAaNAV

🌟 #DataScience & #AI PhD students: present research, develop skills & connect with peers at this free event.

#PhDNetworking

PhD Student Presentations and Networking Day - October 2025

Conferences, workshops, and other events from around the Turing Network

bit.ly

1

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 15d

📢 Applications open: #DataStudyGroup

The challenge: Modelling AI competency needs in the UK labour market

📅 26 Jan – 6 Feb 2026
➡️ Apply now: bit.ly/42EKbF3

Challenge set by the Alan Turing Institute in collaboration with @innovateuk.bsky.social #BridgeAI (supported by PwC).

Data Study Group - January 2026

What are Data Study Groups?

bit.ly

1

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 17d

What do UK citizens really think about AI-powered data processing for national security?

Join CETaS' UK Public Attitudes to National Security Data Processing webinar to explore insights from their novel research.

📅 2 Oct, 15:00–16:00 📍Online
➡️ bit.ly/3VtmJXr

CETaS Webinar: UK Public Attitudes to National Security Data Processing

As AI and machine learning transform the way national security agencies process vast amounts of information, they bring both crucial opportunities and seriou

bit.ly

1

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 22d

We’re pleased to be at #LISW2025 hosting a breakfast briefing this morning to explore AI and defence for maritime.

Bringing together leaders across the global maritime sector, we'll examine AI applications and vulnerabilities, and how attackers can use AI against maritime technology.

Kimberly Tam from the Alan Turing Institute presenting at London International Shipping Week 2025

2

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 23d

Today we’re hosting the International Conference on Trustworthy Digital Infrastructure 2025

Global experts in digital trust, cybersecurity, digital identity and governance will share trends, results and concerns on achieving trustworthy systems.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4gqNxkB

Trustworthy Digital Infrastructure

bit.ly

5

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 24d

The report highlights opportunities, practical barriers and potential risks of using AI in battlefield command, including:
💻 Technology limitations
📊 Private sector influence
🌐 Datafication of war
💡 Human control

1 1

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 24d

🛡️ AI Won’t Replace the General: Algorithms, Decision-making and Battlefield Command

🔎 Read the new expert report from Turing Research Fellow, Rupert Barrett-Taylor and Turing Research Associate, Natasha Karner: https://bit.ly/4pp5vIu

AI Won’t Replace the General: Algorithms, Decision-making and Battlefield Command

This study by the Alan Turing Institute in collaboration with Accenture examines the challenges of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into UK battlefie

bit.ly

2 1 1

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · 28d

❄️ We’re delighted to be co-hosting a 2-day AI research workshop & networking event in Norway this week with NORA (Norwegian AI Research Consortium) & the UK Embassy in Oslo.

Researchers will explore the intersection of AI & the critical domains of Arctic research, maritime applications & security.

Jan Thompson CMG OBE speaking at the Nordic-Alan Turing Institute AI Research Workshop and Embassy Network Event - Arctic, Maritime and Security Applications

2 2

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · Sep 8

❓ How could AI reshape military leadership?

New research published today explores AI’s potential to change how the British Army commands its forces.

➡️ Learn more: https://bit.ly/42fkvi5

AI could support the military but won’t replace the General

AI has the potential to reshape the way the British Army leads and commands, but it won't replace human accountability, judgement or military insight.

bit.ly

2

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · Aug 12

Achieved through:
💡 Retrieval-augmented generation
💡 Reasoning trace fine-tuning
💡 Budget forcing at inference time

Lean, locally run models can unlock huge benefits for public sector and compute-constrained environments.

➡️ Learn more and read the technical reports: bit.ly/4fu00E1

Why we still need small language models – even in the age of frontier AI

Lean, locally run models can unlock huge benefits for public sector and compute-constrained environments

bit.ly

The Alan Turing Institute @theturing.bsky.social · Aug 12

📈Results from our 3B parameter model

How well can a small, open-weight language model succeed when using lightweight tools without huge infrastructure?

Our 3B model achieved near-frontier reasoning performance on synthetically generated health queries – and is small enough to run on a laptop.

1 1 1