Catenaa, Sunday, April 12, 2026- UK financial regulators are holding urgent talks with the government’s cyber security agency and major banks to assess the risks posed by Anthropic’s latest AI model.

The Financial Times reported that officials at the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Treasury are in talks with the National Cyber Security Centre to examine potential vulnerabilities in critical IT systems that Anthropic’s latest AI model has highlighted.

Downing Street has been supportive of the work, which will be put to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei when he visits the UK in late May as part of a trip to meet European customers and policymakers, the report said.

Efforts to persuade the start-up to expand its presence in the UK beyond an existing office in London have stepped up in recent weeks after the US defence department labelled the start-up a supply-chain risk, the report said.

US President Donald Trump lambasted the “left-wing nut jobs at Anthropic” after the company refused to budge on “red lines” about the use of its technology in warfighting.

“THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social at the end of February.

A week later, London mayor Sadiq Khan wrote to Amodei, pitching the UK capital as a “steadfast” base for the company. “I believe that London can provide a stable, proportionate and pro-innovation environment in which this kind of AI can flourish,” he wrote.

The move to court Anthropic comes amid a broader push by governments around the world to build “sovereign” AI capabilities and reduce reliance on foreign AI companies.

Last month, the UK announced plans to launch a $53.8 million state-backed research lab for “blue-sky” work in AI, leveraging Britain’s research base and scientists to make breakthroughs in science, healthcare, and transport.

UK officials recognise they lack a homegrown competitor to top US labs and have sought partnerships with those groups. Anthropic currently employs about 200 people in the UK, 60 of them researchers, and last year appointed former prime minister Rishi Sunak as a senior adviser.

Last month, rival OpenAI committed to significantly expanding in London, making the city its biggest research hub outside the US.

Google has also built its presence in the UK capital since acquiring DeepMind, the AI research lab founded by Demis Hassabis, in 2014.

The search giant is putting the finishing touches on a vast, roughly $1.3 billion bn campus in King’s Cross.

The UK’s efforts come as Anthropic prepares for an initial public offering as early as this year.

Peter Kyle, UK business secretary, told The Financial Times that Anthropic was one of many fast-growing companies he wanted to encourage to invest more in the UK. “I set up the Global Talent Taskforce to assertively get out there and sell all the benefits of investing, innovating, and scaling in the UK,” he said.

Kyle added, “We are in touch with a great many companies from a very wide range of high-growth sectors worldwide. It’s wrong to say it’s about listing, it’s about talent.”