The next UK government should be ready to legislate on artificial intelligence (AI) if it finds gaps in the powers of regulators to protect the public interest from fast-moving technological developments, said the House Science, Innovation and Technology Committee (SITC).
Following its inquiry into the UK’s governance of AI – which was launched in October 2022 to examine how the UK is ensuring the technology will be used in an ethical and responsible way – the House of Commons SITC has said the next government must be ready to legislate on AI if the current hands-off approach proves insufficient in addressing the current and future harms associated with the technology.
The committee added that while it largely agrees with current approach of using existing regulators to manage the proliferation of AI in their sectors, the looming end of the current Parliamentary session means there is no time to bring forward updates to regulators’ remits or powers if gaps are identified.
Given the huge financial disparities between regulators and leading AI developers that “can command vast resources”, the SITC said the next government will also need offer more material support to UK regulators to help hold the companies accountable.
“It is right to work through existing regulators, but the next government should stand ready to legislate quickly if it turns out that any of the many regulators lack the statutory powers to be effective. We are worried that UK regulators are under-resourced compared to the finance that major developers can command,” said SITC chair Greg Clark.
The SITC also raises concerns about reports from Politico that the UK’s AI Safety Institute (AISI) has been unable to access some of the AI developers models for pre-deployment safety testing, as was voluntarily agreed at the UK government’s AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park in November 2023.
