UK at risk of falling behind in AI regulation
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The UK needs to introduce new legislation to regulate artificial intelligence use in the country or risk falling behind the US and EU as they begin setting the pace in regulating this technology. This warning was given by the Committee of Science, Innovation, and Technology in the House of Commons. The committee urged the UK government to expedite the implementation of a regulatory framework for artificial intelligence during the upcoming parliamentary session.
Earlier in March, the UK government published an artificial intelligence whitepaper, outlining its pro-innovation and adaptable approach towards regulating the technology. Additionally, the British government noted the need for the legislation to feature a statutory duty on the regulators for them to have regard for the five` AI governance principles. These five principles of AI governance include:
– Robustness, safety and security
Artificial intelligence can autonomously develop new functions and capabilities. As such, regulators will need to assess the risk management and safety of the users in their sector, guiding them on good cybersecurity and data privacy processes.
– Explainability and appropriate transparency
Citizens have the appropriate information about the artificial intelligence systems being used, their purpose, and how their decision-making processes affect the outcome. That might involve the regulator gathering information about the purpose and nature of the AI systems, its logic and processes, and the data being used. It might also involve setting out requirements like product labeling. However, AI experts agree that explainability might be hard in some cases because of the nature of some AI systems.
– Fairness
UK regulators will need to ensure that artificial intelligence systems are created, deployed, and used fairly. Fairness is an essential principle in the digital markets for the protection of consumers dealing with online businesses such as marketplaces, social media networks, and online casinos
– Governance and accountability
Artificial intelligence has the power to autonomously make decisions, so it’s essential to establish accountability and ownership. Regulators will need to provide guidelines on how to demonstrate governance and accountability e.g. audits or impact assessments.
– Redress and contestability
AI-powered systems might reproduce biases and cause harm. As such, the users need to have a way to contest the results where necessary. The regulators will need to provide guidelines with the relevant information on filing complaints and dispute resolution for citizens affected by artificial intelligence.
According to a member of the UK’s Science, Innovation and Technology committee Sebastian Klovig Skelton, there’s a danger looming if the British government doesn’t bring any statutory regulation for the next three years. That risks the government’s good intentions as the country will fall behind other legislation like the EU’s AI Act, which might become the base standard and hard to displace.
The committee chair Greg Clark further added that if the country is to host the first global AI summit successfully in November, then it will be beneficial to have many choices. However, the summit needs to be accompanied by a regulation, although some security aspects are hard to resolve at this stage. As such, the committee recommended that the UK needs a more reliable and trustworthy forum for that.
The committee’s report on artificial intelligence governance recommends that the AI whitepaper needs to be used as the first effort in engaging in this complex task. However, the whitepaper’s proposed approach risks falling behind AI’s development pace.
Currently, the UK doesn’t have a holistic governing body on the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence. Instead, the developers, publishers, and users are relying on the existing fragmented network of laws under the country’s regulatory ecosystem. However, 15% of all businesses in the UK have already adopted artificial intelligence.
That translates to over 432,000 companies spread across various industries including healthcare, Fintech, security, marketing and advertising, data analytics, and gambling. For instance, the National Health Service is using AI in several areas including improving diagnoses, robot-assisted surgeries, virtual nursing, and more. In the gambling sector, the use of AI is also far and wide, with many top UK non-gamstop casinos listed here https://non-gamstop-casinos.com/index/ using the technology to enhance the live casino experience that is already so prevalent these days.
With that in mind, the UK government needs to take action right now or the legislation might have to wait until late 2025. Fortunately, the UK government understands that the potential of artificial intelligence should be harnessed responsibly and safely.
According to a government spokesperson, the upcoming AI summit in November is set to address the threat of harm and risks from this technology. The spokesperson further added that the white paper lays down an adaptable and proportionate approach towards AI regulation in the UK.
The UK government has also developed a foundation model task force to look at the safe development and deployment of AI models. The task force will look at the underlying technology for AI-based tools like text or image generators. However, the British government needs to act swiftly and launch dedicated legislation for artificial intelligence or risk behind left behind by the US and EU.
