In an address to the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced new measures to fight hostile disinformation campaigns and shape global standards for artificial intelligence safety.

Burnham warned that the UK and its allies are facing an “industrial‑scale assault” on their information environments, citing extensive Russian activity including forged branding, fabricated news content and attempts to interfere in democratic processes. He said the threat is now being accelerated by AI‑enabled tools capable of multiplying the reach and impact of malign influence operations.

In response, Burnham said he had asked security chiefs to start work on a new National Centre for Information Defence – to detect, attribute and disrupt these kinds of hostile state information attacks. The new body will bring together intelligence agencies, government departments, law enforcement and social media platforms to detect, attribute and disrupt hostile state information attacks.

Burnham further announced that the UK is developing a new AI defence partnership with the US to protect critical national infrastructure.

The PM also committed to putting AI at the heart of the UK’s G20 Presidency next year with the aim of securing a single set of global principles and safety standards for frontier AI systems.

Burnham said: "“Fundamental decisions on this technology are too important to be left to chance. They must be taken by elected governments who serve working people. So we will bring the right people together on the key issues: delivering on the potential of AI for good, and dealing with the risks. And we will work towards agreeing a single set of global principles and standards to ensure the transparency and access we need to increase our preparedness – and to ensure that AI development is safe.”