Matt Clifford is stepping down as chair of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency, according to The Register, reversing an earlier plan to keep the taxpayer-funded role while joining Anthropic as managing director of international affairs. The Register reports that Clifford announced the move in a LinkedIn post on Monday, less than a week after Anthropic’s appointment prompted warnings of a conflict of interest. Clifford said he had completed his first full term at ARIA last month and had decided to leave so that his new role at Anthropic would not become a distraction from the agency’s work. The timing matters because Clifford had initially planned to hold both posts. When Anthropic announced his appointment the previous week, The Register says the stated plan was for Clifford to remain ARIA chair, with safeguards intended to manage potential conflicts between his public-sector role and his work for the AI company. That arrangement drew scrutiny in Parliament. Dame Chi Onwurah, the Labour MP who chairs the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, warned last week that retaining the ARIA post while joining Anthropic created a “clear conflict of interest,” according to The Register. Clifford is not leaving immediately. The Register reports that he said the Secretary of State had asked him to remain until November 6 while a replacement chair is appointed, and that he had agreed to do so with safeguards against potential conflicts in place. Onwurah welcomed the decision, but said the governance questions had not been fully answered. The Register reports that she has written to the government asking how the original arrangement was allowed to arise, what conflict-of-interest assessments were undertaken, and what safeguards are in place to protect confidence in ARIA’s governance. The roles sit close to sensitive UK AI policy. ARIA invests taxpayer money in high-risk scientific and technological research, including AI-related work. At Anthropic, Clifford is set to lead the company’s engagement with governments outside North America. Clifford has also been a prominent figure in the UK’s AI agenda. The Register notes that he helped establish the Frontier AI Taskforce, which later became the AI Security Institute, worked on the UK’s 2023 AI Safety Summit, and wrote the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan. Who benefits: ARIA benefits from removing an immediate governance distraction while it searches for a new chair. Anthropic still gains a senior UK AI policy figure for international government engagement, according to The Register’s description of Clifford’s new role. Who's exposed: UK officials remain exposed to questions from Parliament about how the conflict assessment was handled. Clifford and ARIA will also face scrutiny during the transition period through November 6.