The UK government is seeking an innovation boost with new plans and a “lighter touch” for regulating the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Its new AI paper published today (18 July) outlines the government’s approach and involves yet another dig at the EU by saying it will take “a less centralised approach”.
Snideness aside, it comes as the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill is introduced to Parliament, which will change the UK’s data laws, and try and improve innovation in technologies such as AI.
Digital Minister Damian Collins states: “It is vital that our rules offer clarity to businesses, confidence to investors and boost public trust.”
According to the government, the UK’s AI sector leads Europe and is third in the world for levels of private investment after domestic firms attracted $4.65 billion (£3.9 billion) last year. Research this year predicted more than 1.3 million UK businesses will be using AI and investing over £200 billion in the technology by 2040.
Instead of giving responsibility for AI governance to a central regulatory body, as “the EU is doing through its AI Act”, the government’s proposals will allow different regulators to take a tailored approach to the use of AI in a range of settings.
The approach is based on six core principles that regulators must apply, with flexibility to implement these in ways that best meet the use of AI in their sectors.
The core principles are very simple and require developers and users to ensure that AI is used safely, ensure that AI is technically secure and functions as designed, make sure that AI is appropriately transparent and explainable, consider fairness, identify a legal person to be responsible for AI, and clarify routes to redress or contestability
Regulators – such as Ofcom, the Competition and Markets Authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency – will be asked to interpret and implement the principles.
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The government is encouraging “lighter touch options” which could include guidance and voluntary measures or creating sandboxes – such as a trial environment where businesses can check the safety and reliability of AI tech before introducing it to market.
Industry experts, academics and civil society organisations focusing on this technology can share their views on putting this approach into practice through a call for evidence launching today.
The government is today also publishing the first AI Action Plan to show how it is delivering against the National AI Strategy and identifying new priorities for the year ahead.
As eWeek UK reported in September 2021, the UK launched this strategy as it seeks to be a “global science superpower”. It wasn’t just fluff, that strategy did include some specifics.
The government is keen to show its love for AI and says it has invested more than £2.3 billion in the tech since 2014. Since publishing the National AI Strategy last year, the government has announced new investment in “the long term needs of the sector”, including funding for up to 2,000 new AI and data science scholarships, and opened up new visa routes.
As part of the strategy, the AI Standard Hub was unveiled at the start of the year. The hub will provide users across industry, academia and regulators with tools and educational materials to use and shape AI technical standards. The interactive hub platform, led by the Alan Turing Institute with the support of the British Standards Institution and National Physical Laboratory, will launch in Autumn 2022.
