More Google, less DeepMind

Good morning,

I'm heading home after two weeks dodging the heat of the south. Today's edition is a whopper thanks to a busy news week.

News In Brief 🩳

Tell us more: Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Chi Onwurah, has written to three secretaries of state about a lack of detail on the breakup of DSIT. "It is vital that the government confirms the details of its plans, and which ministers will be responsible for implementing them, as soon as possible," she said.

Talent miss: The government has expanded its flagship visa route for researchers, the Global Talent Scheme, to include more than 100 companies, but very few tech firms and none of the companies it is investing in through the Sovereign AI Unit are on the list. The unit has, however, launched a careers page for its five portfolio companies with 67 open roles.

Rogue agents: AISI says it will make changes to the way it tests frontier models after it failed to initially detect Anthropic's Mythos 5 model going rogue on GitHub.

Count me in: Birmingham-based software provider OneAdvanced is the latest company to join Cosine's Lumen Sovereign coalition to build a UK frontier model this year.

Hailed: Wayve vehicles have been granted minicab licenses by TfL, clearing another hurdle towards self-driving taxis on London's streets.

Prove it: The government will give extra weight in public contracts to companies who create local jobs and tackle skills shortages. The score for bringing benefits to the local community will be raised from 10 percent to 20 percent for contracts worth £5m or more, it announced this week.