Matt Clifford steps down from Aria chair after Anthropic role criticism

Labour MP Onwurah presses AI minister for clarity on conflict review

Matt Clifford, the chair of the government’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) and a former AI adviser to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said on Monday he will step down, one week after disclosing a new full-time role at the San Francisco AI company Anthropic. Clifford framed the move as protective of Aria’s mission. “I have decided to step down to ensure my new role at Anthropic doesn’t become a distraction from Aria’s incredible work,” he said. He will remain in the chair until 6 November “with appropriate safeguards against potential conflicts in place.”

Clifford disclosed the Anthropic role the previous week. According to the company, his remit would involve leading its engagement with governments outside the United States, including the UK. At the time, Anthropic said Clifford would recuse himself from any Anthropic-related business at Aria under an arrangement agreed with the government. The dual-role configuration nonetheless drew immediate criticism from senior lawmakers.

Chi Onwurah, the Labour chair of the Commons science, innovation and technology committee, had labeled the arrangement a “clear conflict of interest” and outlined her disquiet in a letter to AI minister Kanishka Narayan. On Monday, Onwurah welcomed the move but said substantive questions remained. She asked “how this situation arose, what conflict of interest assessments were undertaken and what safeguards are in place to protect confidence in Aria’s governance.”

Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer and a frequent critic of government AI policy, also welcomed Clifford’s departure. “If we are to rebuild trust in the government, we need to see a clear line between tech interests and those of citizens and the nation,” she said.

Several former UK political figures have taken roles at major AI companies since leaving office. Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has taken jobs with Anthropic and Microsoft. Former chancellor George Osborne works for OpenAI. Nick Clegg held a senior role with Meta until 2025.

Tom Brake, the chief executive of the campaign group Unlock Democracy, had warned that taking extensive knowledge about a policy as sensitive as AI to a private-sector company shortly after leaving government could weaken the government’s hand in pushing for a precautionary approach to AI development.

On the same day as Clifford’s resignation, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton issued a statement supporting a private member’s bill being introduced on Tuesday in the UK parliament to prohibit the creation of artificial superintelligence. “Losing control over AI smarter than ourselves … could even lead to human extinction,” Hinton said.

Clifford, 40, built his career in the private sector as co-founder of the venture capital firm Entrepreneurs First and became a central figure in the UK technology scene. He took the Aria chair in 2022 and played a prominent role in organizing the 2023 AI safety summit held in the UK. He also helped create the organization that later became the AI Security Institute. In January 2025, Clifford was appointed AI adviser to Prime Minister Keir Starmer; he stepped down from that role for personal reasons after six months.