Written and maintained by CASRAI Editorial Board
Last updated
The short answer
They are the same organisation. The UK government body originally called the AI Safety Institute was renamed the AI Security Institute on 14 February 2025. There was no split, merger, or new institute created — it is one continuous organisation, still using the acronym AISI, still sitting inside the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). If you see the older name in an older article, a bookmark, or a citation, it refers to the same body you’d reach today under the new name.
What actually changed, and when
On 14 February 2025, UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle announced that the AI Safety Institute would become the AI Security Institute. The government’s official announcement put it directly:
“This new name will reflect its focus on serious AI risks with security implications, such as how the technology can be used to develop chemical and biological weapons, how it can be used to carry out cyber-attacks, and enable crimes such as fraud and child sexual abuse.”
Nothing about the institute’s legal status, its department, or its acronym changed — only the name and the language used to describe its focus. The government’s own organisation page for the old name now redirects readers with a plain notice that the AI Safety Institute “is now called” the AI Security Institute, rather than listing it as a separate, closed-down body.
Why “Security” instead of “Safety”
The stated rationale, per the government’s announcement, was to make the institute’s scope clearer: its testing and research work centres on risks with direct security implications — chemical and biological weapons uplift, AI-enabled cyber-attacks, fraud, and child sexual abuse material — rather than the broader, more open-ended set of concerns that “AI safety” can imply internationally. The rename did not come with a change of remit announced separately from that framing; it was presented as a clarification of what the institute already does, not a pivot to new work.
Why the confusion persists
A few concrete reasons the old name is still everywhere:
- Old pages are still live. The UK government’s own archived page for the “AI Safety Institute” organisation remains published and indexable — it just carries a notice pointing to the new name rather than disappearing.
- Pre-2025 coverage and backlinks. Everything written about the institute before 14 February 2025 — including coverage of its November 2023 founding around the Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit — used the original name and hasn’t been retroactively updated.
- Other countries kept “Safety” in their own institute names. The UK’s rename was a unilateral choice, not part of an international standard. Japan’s national body, for example, is still named the AI Safety Institute (AISI Japan) as of this writing. Seeing “AI Safety Institute” used correctly for another country’s body, right next to older references to the UK one, reinforces the impression that the UK still uses that name too.
None of this means there are two competing UK institutes. There is one.
At a glance
| Before 14 Feb 2025 | From 14 Feb 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | AI Safety Institute | AI Security Institute |
| Acronym | AISI | AISI |
| Parent department | DSIT | DSIT |
| Legal entity / continuity | Same organisation throughout — no split or re-formation | |
How CASRAI’s NIKOLAI tracks this
Whichever name is on the door, the institute’s actual work — running structured pre-deployment evaluations against frontier models, the work referenced above under both its old and new names — is what CASRAI catalogs independently through NIKOLAI’s Evidence and Evaluations track (N5), in elements like Evaluation, Evaluation Run, and Elicitation Method. NIKOLAI doesn’t track which name a government body uses for itself; it gives a shared vocabulary for describing what an evaluation actually tested, how, and with what caveats, regardless of who ran it or what they’re called this year. NIKOLAI is CASRAI’s own, unendorsed reference project — it does not represent AISI’s, DSIT’s, or any other body’s official terminology or position. See NIKOLAI’s Evidence and Evaluations track.
FAQ
Is the UK AI Security Institute the same organisation as the old AI Safety Institute?
Yes. It’s a rename, not a new body. The government’s own page for the former name states plainly that the AI Safety Institute “is now called” the AI Security Institute.
When exactly did the rename happen?
14 February 2025, announced by Technology Secretary Peter Kyle.
Did the institute’s existing work and partnerships carry over?
The rename was announced as a naming and framing change, not a restructuring, so work that predates February 2025 continued under the same institute rather than being handed to a successor body. For the detail of AISI’s testing agreements and evaluation work, see CASRAI’s guide to pre-deployment testing with CAISI and UK AISI.
Are there other countries still using the name “AI Safety Institute”?
Yes. Japan’s national AI safety body, for instance, is still branded AISI — AI Safety Institute. If you’re reading about “an AI Safety Institute” in a non-UK context, check which country’s body is meant before assuming it refers to the UK.
Which name should I use for the UK body today?
AI Security Institute (or UK AISI). “AI Safety Institute” is the retired name for the same UK organisation and is no longer current, even though it still appears in older material and search results.
