Published: 22 Oct 2025
BBFC receives £988,856 from Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s Regulators’ Pioneer Fund (RPF) for the development of AI compliance tool, Mira
AI-powered video scanning solution, Mira, to redefine digital content reviews, accelerate global compliance and transform online content safety and classification
12 month project aims to transition Mira from proof-of-concept to user-ready
Development part of BBFC’s mission to protect audiences from harmful content
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) can today announce it has successfully received a grant of £988,856 from the UK Government to develop its AI compliance tool, Mira. The UK Government’s Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) funds regulators and local authorities to trial new and innovative regulatory approaches enabling businesses to bring innovative products to the market quicker. In October 2025, through the Fourth Round of the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, the RIO has awarded the BBFC a grant of £988,856 via the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund (RPF) to deliver the Mira project from proof-of-concept to user-ready.
For more than a century, the BBFC has been a trusted guide for UK audiences - protecting children and vulnerable adults from harmful content, while helping people make informed viewing choices through age ratings and content advice. Protection, trust, and transparency remain at the heart of the BBFC’s mission as the UK’s independent regulator for film and video content. The development of Mira marks an important new chapter. By exploring how AI can support and enhance its work, the BBFC is taking a significant step forward in ensuring its mission continues to meet the needs of audiences in an increasingly digital world.
Regulator built and backed, Mira is an AI-powered content scanning solution that redefines digital content reviews - automatically generating comprehensive, standardised, territory-agnostic compliance metadata at speed and scale to accelerate global content compliance. Mira’s metadata identifies the strength, severity and timing of compliance issues, helping the industry stay on top of compliance across all digital content from film to social media video. Mira enables age ratings and content moderation to scale in sync with growing global demand and will transform online content safety and classification.
Mira’s generation of rich metadata from scanning content saves significant time and resources on content reviews while enabling human oversight of a wider range of compliance issues. It combines speed with precision, reducing human error and bias by spotting details the human eye could miss while retaining essential human oversight to ensure decisions remain rooted in regulatory expertise.
The BBFC’s 12-month project commenced on October 1, 2025 and will conclude by September 30, 2026. The core focus of the project is the transition of Mira from a proof-of-concept into a user-ready, software-as-a-service (SaaS) product.
Mira is one of three tools being developed under the BBFC Technology portfolio.
David Austin OBE, CEO of the BBFC said: “I am absolutely thrilled that the BBFC has been awarded nearly £1 million from the Regulators' Pioneer Fund. Global content distribution has reached extraordinary levels and local compliance standards are constantly evolving. Only through embracing technology can the BBFC keep up with the challenge of protecting audiences. The funding is a huge help in harnessing the power of AI to innovate and better protect audiences online.
“As a regulator-created tool, Mira’s design is firmly rooted in robust regulatory principles and the BBFC’s public protection mandate. A user-ready Mira will establish the UK as a leader in global video regulatory innovation, creating a scalable product that reduces costs for the creative industry, while allowing content to be brought to market safely, legally, quickly, and affordably.”
Science and Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall said: “Every day across the country new products are being invented that have the potential to transform lives and revolutionise public services.“But all too often, we are held back from taking advantage of them by red tape that simply hasn’t kept pace with the scientific and technological advances.“That’s why we’re backing our regulators to work together with industry, to make the rules fit for purpose, and unlock breakthroughs that will deliver national renewal by driving our economy forwards faster, easier, and safely.”
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is the independent film and video regulator for the UK. Through widely recognised and trusted age ratings and content advice, the BBFC works to protect children and vulnerable adults from potentially harmful content and to empower audiences to make informed viewing decisions. All BBFC classification decisions are based on our Classification Guidelines, which are updated every four to five years to ensure our standards continue to reflect the expectations and values of people across the UK. Please visit bbfc.co.uk for further information.
For press enquiries please contact +44 (0) 7946 423719 or press@bbfc.co.uk
BBFC Technology Ltd creates cutting-edge compliance solutions for content distributors, creators and regulators. Backed by over a century of classification expertise, BBFC Technology combines regulatory insight with AI innovation to help digital content distributors navigate local content compliance requirements with speed, accuracy, and confidence.
