Artificial intelligence is "helping to industrialise cyber attacks" and is "highly likely" to be used in attacks on Britain's critical national infrastructure by 2028, the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) has warned.

The NCSC, part of GCHQ, also said that China represents the "most sophisticated and sustained cyber challenge facing the UK" - and is likely to use AI to achieve its geopolitical goals in the same timeframe.

In its latest annual report, the NCSC said that the capabilities in state-backed attacks did not rely on advanced or novel AI, but instead used it to identify vulnerabilities, target victims and operate more efficiently.

NCSC chief executive Richard Horne said: "In the coming months, we face a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in the number of cyber incidents.

"But we must be clear that is not because AI has invented new ways to attack us. But because vulnerabilities that have been tolerated for far too long can now be discovered and exploited at a scale that was once unimaginable." In a speech on Tuesday, Dr Horne will warn that the UK has got away with doing "tech on the cheap" for decades - but urgent action is now needed.

He will say: "It is clear that our nation is living through a moment that, in hindsight, we will see as one of enormous consequence. A 'sliding doors' moment. A moment of choice." According to Dr Horne, businesses "will have to explain why they did not heed the warning signs amid empty supermarket shelves" unless they prepare.

"If leaders of organisations of every size and type do not take the responsibility now to make different choices, then they will one day have to look their investors, shareholders, employees, customers, supplies, and ultimately, their families and friends in the eye and explain why, despite knowing the consequences, they failed to make the choices required.

"When food isn't on shelves, lights aren't on, businesses have gone under, we may have to explain that we saw the warning signs, understood the risks and still didn't make the right choices." Flight diverted over 'bomb threat' Russia reacts to Sky News report According to the NCSC annual report, its incident management team has received 1,831 reports of cyber attacks this year - of which 80 were nationally significant.

Over in Europe, systems controlling fridges in supermarkets have been hacked once again - with questions raised over the risk of older operational technology being connected to the internet.

Security minister Dan Jarvis said: "NCSC's latest annual report shows cyber threats are growing more sophisticated. We're using the power of AI to help stay ahead of those who seek to do us harm, with a new National Cyber Shield and an AI Cyber Security Centre of Excellence."

China was singled out as the most important cyber threat to the UK, with the report adding: "China uses its advanced cyber capabilities to acquire large amounts of information from the UK and elsewhere."

It said that cyber was becoming a "tool of state power", which is using its capabilities "to enable espionage and interference operations (such as hack and leak or transnational oppression), planning of lethal operations, acquisition of sensitive economic data, and operations to disrupt or destroy assets and services." "By 2028, it is highly likely China, Russia, and other nation states will routinely use AI cyber to achieve their geopolitical goals with the UK facing an increase in scale and speed of sophisticated cyber attacks," the report warned.