The CSIRO will dismantle the research group best known for developing the secure embedded L4 (seL4) microkernel as part of a restructure of its Data61

Data61 dismantles research group behind seL4 secure OS

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2021-05-21 08:30:06

The CSIRO will dismantle the research group best known for developing the secure embedded L4 (seL4) microkernel as part of a restructure of its Data61 business unit.

The government-owned scientific research agency has told the trustworthy systems team that staff will be reallocated to other artificial intelligence (AI) project or let go altogether.

It comes less than two weeks after CSIRO revealed a $100 million investment in five science and technology growth areas, one of which is AI, over the next four years.

The government has also set aside $50 million in this year's budget for a national AI centre within Data61 to coordinate Australia’s AI expertise.

A spokesperson confirmed CSIRO will “no longer maintain” the group, but said there were plans to “strengthen” work around cyber security and emerging areas like trustworthy AI.

“The [group] is focused on the areas of formal methods for design, implementation and verification of software systems,” the spokesperson said.