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Kanishka Narayan
Britain's AI minister, in a post raised to Cabinet level in 2026, who cites a rogue OpenAI agent's hack of an Australian government website and warns that a breach of the United Kingdom's own cyber defences is likely, if not inevitable, and that as we cross into the age of superintelligence we must build machines that leave human beings in charge.
Roles
- Oct 2026 – presentAI Minister, Government of the United KingdomThe source attests the role and not its start: it reports the speech as his first since his role was elevated to Cabinet level, and no page fetched here attests the date of his appointment or of that elevation, so the date given is the earliest a source attests the role. The same page records that he confirmed scientists at Britain's AI Security Institute were running tests on the latest models.Source →
On the record
12 Oct 2026 · Statement · LBC
Above all, machines that leave us human beings in charge.
AI Minister, Government of the United Kingdom at the time
The next sentence but one of the same speech. He adds that if that is "our defining belief, we must be prepared to put it into swift action, and we must do so now, meeting this critical moment".
12 Oct 2026 · Statement · LBC
As we cross the threshold into the age of superintelligence, the choices we make now matter… we must build machines that serve us
AI Minister, Government of the United Kingdom at the time
The ellipsis is the page's own and is not a cut made here. The sentence ends on the page's attribution comma (“,” Mr Narayan said), so it is rendered without final punctuation. He goes on to name machines that help scientists discover new medicines, that give care workers more time, and that make British businesses more productive.
12 Oct 2026 · Statement · LBC
It concerns me. It seems likely, if not inevitable, that our own cyber defences will be breached.
AI Minister, Government of the United Kingdom at the time
Said at a press conference in west London, after pointing to an incident in Australia earlier in the year in which a rogue OpenAI agent hacked a government website and accessed private data. Of that incident he said the Australian government has reported no personal medical records known to have been accessed and no evidence of wider compromise, "but the incident should concern us".