Architect of UK’s AI strategy joins Anthropic amid conflict of interest warning

From Downing Street to Silicon Valley: Matt Clifford played a key role in helping create the UK’s AI Security Institute. Photograph: Tayfun Salci/Zuma Press/Alamy

The architect of the UK government’s AI strategy has joined the US startup Anthropic in a senior role a year after stepping down from his Downing Street post.

Matt Clifford, a successful tech investor, was appointed as AI opportunities adviser by Keir Starmer last year but resigned from the unpaid role six months later for personal reasons.