MSPs, VARs, and vendors reflect on the government’s “Alignment Project’, its feasibility, and its utility
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Clockwise from top left: Chris Jones, Paul Starr, Mini Biswas, Steve Groom, Seb Burrell, Sal King, Ben Savage
The UK government has launched the “Alignment Project”, a global research initiative that aims to tackle the AI safety question to ensure the technology behaves in ways aligned with human values.
The research, led by the UK’s AI Security Institute, is backed by £15m in funding and tech mastodons such as AWS, Anthropic, or UK Research and Innovation.
The project will fund academic and non-profit teams through grants of up to £1m, with additional cloud compute provided by corporate partners.
But is this move remotely enough to have an impact on the tech world and on the channel?
CRN gathered the opinions of IT experts from Ekco, Trustmarque, Scalefusion, Cisilion, Vissensa, and SEP2 to dig deeper into the government’s latest tech move.
Mini Biswas, AI and security specialist, Cisilion
CRN: Is the £15m investment enough to boost AI safety?
“The UK’s £15m investment into the Alignment Project is a welcome signal of intent – but it’s not a silver bullet.
“AI safety is a vast and evolving challenge that demands sustained funding, cross-sector collaboration, and global coordination.
“This initiative adds depth to the UK’s AI safety infrastructure, but its real impact will depend on how the funding is deployed – particularly in supporting diverse research teams and ensuring transparency from private AI labs.
“While £15m is a strong start, it pales in comparison to the scale of AI investment in countries like the US and China.
“To ensure meaningful impact, the UK must commit to long-term funding and inclusive governance.
“As a woman in tech, I see this as a moment to push for safety standards that reflect a broader spectrum of human values.”
CRN: What role should the IT channel play, and how can partners collaborate with ethical AI vendors?
“The IT channel is no longer just a conduit, it’s a co-creator.
“Partners must demand transparency, fairness, and accountability from vendors, especially as AI becomes embedded in every layer of enterprise solutions.
“Ethical AI isn’t a checkbox, it’s a business imperative.
“Channel leaders should prioritise vendors who align with responsible AI principles and offer clear governance models.
“Collaboration should be built on trust, shared values, and a commitment to long-term impact, not just short-term margins.
“Given the limited transparency of some private AI labs, mechanisms for openness and accountability are essential, especially when public funding is involved.”
CRN: Could new AI regulations hinder innovation?
“According to The Alignment Project, The AI Security Institute has recruited over 50 technical staff, including alumni from OpenAI, DeepMind, and Oxford.
“This talent pool, combined with expert advisory support, ensures that funded projects benefit from deep domain knowledge and strategic guidance.
“Poorly designed regulations can stifle creativity, but well-crafted ones can unlock it.
“Clear guardrails give innovators confidence to build responsibly.
“Regulation should be principles-based, not overly prescriptive; focusing on explainability, fairness, and accountability.
“For wider diverse communities historically excluded from tech decision-making, regulation is a tool to ensure AI works for all of us, not just a privileged few.
“The real risk isn’t overregulation; it’s underestimating the consequences of unchecked development.
“In short, this is a positive sign to have regulations in place.”
Paul Starr,CEO and co-founder, SEP2
CRN: Is the £15m investment enough to boost AI safety?
“Frankly, no.
“While any investment in AI safety is welcome, £15m is a symbolic gesture rather than a game-changing sum.
“To put it in perspective, leading AI labs have R&D budgets that dwarf this figure by orders of magnitude.
“The real challenge isn’t just research; it’s operationalising that research into tangible security controls, audit frameworks, and industry best practices, within a timeframe that is rapidly moving.
“This investment is a positive first step, but it should be seen as a down payment on a much larger, long-term commitment required to build a robust AI safety ecosystem.”
CRN: What role should the IT channel play, and how can partners collaborate with ethical AI vendors?
“The IT channel is on the front line. For most SMEs, channel partners are their CISOs and trusted technology advisors.
“Their role is absolutely critical. I think this can be done in three ways.
“Risk translation: Channel partners must translate abstract AI risks (bias, data privacy, model security) into tangible business impacts for their clients.
“Due diligence-as-a-Service: Clients will rely on the channel to vet AI vendors.
“The supply chain is a massive attack vector, and AI adds a new layer of complexity.
“Implementation and integration: Ensuring that when an AI tool is integrated, it’s done securely, with proper data governance, access controls, and monitoring.
“Partners who build expertise in this area will have a significant competitive advantage.”
CRN: Could new AI regulations hinder innovation?
“Poorly conceived regulation poses a significant threat to innovation.
“However, in cybersecurity, well-crafted regulation can actually guide innovation rather than impede it.
“While not flawless, regulations like GDPR did not destroy the internet; instead, they spurred a substantial market for privacy-enhancing technologies and data protection services.
“The true danger lies not in regulation itself, but in its quality.
“A principles-based, risk-assessed methodology is more likely to succeed than a rigid, universal set of rules.
“The unique challenge with AI is its unprecedented and rapid pace of change.”
Steve Groom, CEO and founder, Vissensa
CRN: Is the £15m investment enough to boost AI safety?
“It is likely that the cost of developing and then managing safeguards for the use of AI will be an ongoing investment in excess of the £15m quoted.
“However, any investment needs to be front loaded to ensure the genie is not out of the bottle before the safeguards are in place.
“Logically thinking, it’s probably going to be something akin to the GDPR legislation with perhaps the ICO as oversight.
“People would then need to register if they use AI ‘externally’ on corp or private data.
“We’d have to apply these rules for foreign companies using AI on UK nationals which would probably strengthen the appetite already out there for data custodianship.”
CRN: What role should the IT channel play, and how can partners collaborate with ethical AI vendors?
“Firstly adopting an agnostic view to the AI tools available and to ensure that the Channel understand how and for what purpose tool has been developed will be highly prized.
“Its unlikely a one size fits all will yield good results for the adopter so channel partners will need to invest in the right staff and develop their own skills to drive vendors to understand that this will be a collaborative and consultative sales model.
“Many applications for AI will emerge and the IT channels’ job is to understand what their clients are looking for and advise on the best path.
“The organisation of data is crucial in the adoption of AI and this is still not being properly addressed with AI tooling being recommended or selected before the knowledge of how the data sources are clearly identified and will be used.
“I believe the channel can move the opinion of vendors to make AI more widely available including creating licencing models that have sensible price points.
“A good example of where pricing of data has led to organisations to having a rethink of where they hold data is the large cloud providers data ‘egress’ charges, where you can put as much data (unverified as to its quality) in to the cloud but you’ll pay to pull this data out in egress charges if you want to validate its accuracy, (unless you process it in the cloud in which case your paying for compute to do this).
“We call this the drug dealer mentality model; get them hooked and they will always need the next fix.”
CRN: Could new AI regulations hinder innovation?
“It’s a strong possibility, and each government will have its own take on this which will complicate things further.
“I think the question goes to the heart of what companies will use AI for.
“Those who build SLMs innovate internally to streamline their own processes and capitalise on their own data building their own IP will see the least external scrutiny and what they develop can be used to provide competitive advantage and bring products and services to market faster and cheaper than their competition.
“Those focused on capturing petabytes of user data and using AI to sift it to find the commercially valuable nuggets of gold will see the most external pressure and regulation applied.
“It’s akin to drilling for oil in Texas and drilling for oil at the North Pole, easier and cheaper in Texas than the North Pole, the result is the same Crude Oil!”
Sal King, Channel sales manager UKI, Scalefusion
CRN: Is the £15m investment enough to boost AI safety?
“If you want total global AI safety alignment, then £15m is unlikely to achieve that, but the project is most valuable for starting a conversation.
“This is about agreed-upon standards and strategies, so it’s less about the money than bringing everyone to the table.
“The AISI seems to be starting to do that, and AWS and Anthropic’s involvement is a huge vote of confidence.”
CRN: What role should the IT channel play, and how can partners collaborate with ethical AI vendors?
“For us it’s all about communication.
“Enterprises need to know what the rules are and how they affect them at every stage so they can effectively plan for the future.
“We can also identify blind spots quicker than anyone else.
“Our Visibility Gap research recently showed that over two-thirds of tech employees use personal devices for work – far more than their bosses estimated on average.
“How do they interact with AI on those devices? What kind of AI content passes across their inbox? These are the kinds of questions that actually impact businesses most directly, regardless of where in the world your HQ is.
“Channel voices, as always, can help lofty global strategies stay firmly grounded in the experiences of the tech workers and innovators who will be most affected.”
CRN: Could new AI regulations hinder innovation?
“There’s always a fine line with regulations.
“However, from a security and UEM standpoint, it’s all about making users more secure, and aligning AI safety will help do that.
“I think as long as restrictions aren’t too harsh, we’ll see innovation accelerate as more businesses gain the confidence to operate with reduced risk.
“This goes double when we’re talking about AI, where you have all these emerging concerns about data, but also threat actors increasingly using AI to probe systems, build malware, and automate attacks.
“Having a clearer view of how industries and governments can tackle this together could create a more positive environment for innovation, rather than hindering it.”
Chris Jones, Head of public sector, Trustmarque
Seb Burrell, Head of AI, Trustmarque
CRN: Is the £15m investment enough to boost AI safety?
Burrell: “ The £15m investment is a good start and a sign that the UK is prioritising AI.
“Whether it pays dividends will depend on the true collaboration of the research parties involved.”
Jones: “ Advanced AI frontier models require rigorous testing and real-time governance systems.
“This funding targets the alignment problem, which is a solid start.”
CRN: What role should the IT channel play, and how can partners collaborate with ethical AI vendors?
Burrell: “ The IT channel needs to be mindful of the outcomes that clients need versus the latest products.
“It provides a bridge between innovation and safe implementation.
“The channel has a responsibility to advise clients ethically and invest in services that will implement AI.”
Jones: “Workshops that bring AI to customers and help show the art of the possible are essential.
“Collaboration should involve mapping use cases, testing, iterating, and learning.
CRN: Could new AI regulations hinder innovation?
Burrell:“Effective AI regulation need not hinder innovation, it can actually encourage it by offering clear guidelines.
“The UK government should work with industry to get this right, Peter Kyle has stressed the importance of industry and creating ethical frameworks that support entrepreneurial growth.
“Our AI governance index shows that while 93 per cent of UK enterprises now use AI, only seven per cent have robust governance frameworks, essential for building trust and ensuring responsible and sustainable AI use.”
Ben Savage, CEO UK, Ekco
CRN: Is the £15m investment enough to boost AI safety?
“When taking into account the sprawling challenges associated with AI safety – including control over data and bad actors using AI for cyberattacks – £15m might seem like a small figure at first for a global initiative.
“But throwing money at problems doesn’t make them go away.
“Establishing research-based programmes and benchmark testing guided by security experts is the first step
“ It looks like this is what the coalition is prioritising at present, so hopefully this will provide a strong basis for future AI safety initiatives.”
CRN: What role should the IT channel play, and how can partners collaborate with ethical AI vendors?
“It’s often channel partners on the ‘front lines’ of emerging tech who spot potential difficulties or future risks first.
“The IT channel can help ensure that global ambitions and ideals are easily translated into measurable business goals, sharing insights from the wider market to ensure the best safety and security practices are adopted swiftly and with minimal disruption.”
