Terrorists could use AI to target UK with drones and bioweapons, MI5 chief warns

Sir Ken McCallum said UK was entering ‘new era of national security’ with most threats since the Cold War, as he warned against rising danger from Russia and Iran

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Terrorists could exploit artificial intelligence to target Britain with drones or biological weapons, the head of MI5 has warned.

He warned about the growing threat of AI provoking real fear that terrorists could use the technology for warfare, saying “we’ve caught terrorists seeking to exploit AI to improve their reconnaissance and attack methodologies”.

He said the possibility of AI-enabled drones added “a new twist” for bad actors and warned the greatest concern is “AI's potential to change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons”.

Putting the public on guard, Sir Ken warned: “We have again entered a new era of national security”.

He called for a “whole-of-society effort” to face threats to national infrastructure, warning that hacks could disable people’s banking services, drones could disrupt flights, and cyber-attacks on hospitals could impact health treatment.

The MI5 director general also said that the suspected terror plot against RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which prime minister Andy Burnham said was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, was “not unique in the UK”, with Iranians seeking to expand their hybrid campaign against Britain this year.

In the past twelve months, MI5 investigations have led to more than 50 arrests in Iran-linked operations in the UK, and its state threats caseload has quadrupled in the past decade, he said.

Sir Ken added: “You might be surprised to know that in 2026, MI5 is devoting more resource to countering state threats than during the Cold War.”

He said that there have been dozens of arrests under the National Security Act in the three years since it came into force, with cases linked to Russia, Iran and China.

He said that Russia remains “aggressor number one”, with Russian military and intelligence services “once again escalating their attempts at hybrid warfare”, citing a cyber-attack on Polish energy infrastructure and an attempt to use a drone to blow up a cargo plane in Germany.