MI6 needs tech sector’s help to win AI race with China and Russia – spy chief

New boss Richard Moore to say adversaries are ‘pouring money’ into technology and the agency needs outside funding to keep up

MI6 will have to become “more open to stay secret” and work with tech companies to counter threats posed by China and Russia who seek to gain advantage by mastering artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

In his first speech as the foreign spy agency’s head on Tuesday, Richard Moore is expected to admit that “unlike Q in the Bond movies”, MI6 cannot develop the tools it needs in-house to counter hybrid physical and virtual threats.

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Cambridge scientists create world’s first living organism with fully redesigned DNA

Researchers create altered synthetic genome, in move with potential medical benefits

Scientists have created the world’s first living organism that has a fully synthetic and radically altered DNA code.

The lab-made microbe, a strain of bacteria that is normally found in soil and the human gut, is similar to its natural cousins but survives on a smaller set of genetic instructions.

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