UK: New AI Growth Zone confirmed in North Wales. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced that North Wales will host a new AI Growth Zone expected to create more than 3,400 jobs and help unlock up to £100 billion of investment in AI-enabled data-centre infrastructure and related industries.

In the UK, the Internet Watch Foundation welcomed new rules under the forthcoming amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that will allow AI models to be tested proactively for their ability to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Reports show AI‑generated CSAM‑related incidents more than doubled from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.

UK: DSIT/HO/DEFRA publish ‘Replacing animals in science’ strategy (policy + roadmap). New five-year plan to develop, validate and adopt alternative methods, including data-driven and AI-assisted approaches, and to “improve regulatory confidence and acceptance” of such methods across agencies.

UK defence evaluation tool launches. The Defence AI Centre introduced the AI Model Arena to assess AI systems for defence procurement, signalling stricter evaluation, benchmarking and assurance pathways for vendors.