White Paper sets out Government’s approach for regulating AI

The UK’s AI industry is thriving, employing over 50,000 people and contributing £3.7 billion to the economy in 2022. Britain is home to twice as many companies providing AI products and services as any other European nation and hundreds more are being created each year.

Adopting AI in more sectors could improve productivity and unlock growth, which is precisely why the Government is committed to “unleashing AI’s potential” across the economy.

As AI continues developing rapidly, questions have been raised about the future risks it could pose to people’s privacy, their Human Rights or their general security and safety. There are also concerns about the fairness of using AI tools to make decisions which impact people’s lives.

Proposals outlined in the AI regulation White Paper will help create the right environment for the technology to flourish safely in the UK.

Patchwork of legal regimes

Currently, organisations can be held back from using AI to its full potential because a patchwork of legal regimes causes confusion and financial and administrative burdens for businesses trying to comply with the rules.

The Government will avoid heavy-handed legislation which could stifle innovation and take an adaptable approach to regulating AI. Instead of giving responsibility for AI governance to a new single regulator, the Government will empower existing regulators (such as the Health and Safety Executive, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority) to come up with tailored and context-specific approaches that suit the way in which AI is actually being used in their sectors.

The White Paper outlines five clear principles that these regulators should consider to best facilitate the safe and innovative use of AI in the industries they monitor. Those principles are as follows:

*security, safety and robustness: AI applications should function in a secure, safe and robust way where risks are carefully managed

*transparency and explainability: organisations developing and deploying AI should be able to communicate when and how it’s being used and explain a system’s decision-making process in an appropriate level of detail that matches the risks posed by the use of AI

*fairness: AI should be used in a way which complies with the UK’s existing laws, for example the Equality Act 2010 or the UK General Data Protection Regulation, and must not discriminate against individuals or otherwise create unfair commercial outcomes

*accountability and governance: measures are needed to ensure there is appropriate oversight of the way in which AI is being used and clear accountability for the outcomes

*contestability and redress: people need to have clear routes to dispute harmful outcomes or decisions generated by AI

Adapting the rules

This approach will mean the UK’s rules can adapt as this fast-moving technology develops, ensuring protections for the public without holding businesses back from using AI technology to deliver stronger economic growth, better jobs and bold new discoveries that radically improve people’s lives.

Over the next 12 months, regulators will issue practical guidance to organisations, as well as other tools and resources like risk assessment templates, in order to set out how to implement these principles in their sectors. When House of Commons time allows, “legislation could be introduced” to ensure regulators consider the principles consistently.

Michelle Donelan (Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology) explained: “AI has the potential to make Britain a smarter, healthier and happier place in which to live and work. It’s no longer the stuff of science fiction. Indeed, the pace of AI development is staggering. That means we need to have rules in place to make sure it’s developed safely.”

Last year, businesses warmly welcomed initial proposals for this proportionate style of approach during a consultation process and highlighted the need for more co-ordination between regulators to ensure the new framework is implemented effectively across the economy.

Sue Daley, director for tech and innovation at techUK, stated: “techUK welcomes the much-anticipated publication of the UK’s AI White Paper and supports its plans for a context-specific, principle-based approach to governing AI that promotes innovation. The Government must now prioritise building the necessary regulatory capacity, expertise and co-ordination. From our perspective, techUK stands ready to work alongside Government and regulators to ensure that the benefits of this powerful technology are felt across both society and the economy.”

“No new regulation, no new regulator”

Ashley Williams, partner at Mishcon de Reya and a technology lawyer, has made comment on the AI White Paper.

“The UK’s AI White Paper can be neatly summarised by the following statement: ‘No new legislation, no new regulator’. The proposal is to implement a framework underpinned by five principles, which are very similar to existing OECD principles, in order to guide and inform the responsible development and use of AI in all sectors of the economy.”

Williams continued: “The document identifies that major emerging technologies such as autonomous vehicles and large language models [such as ChatGPT] are unlikely to be directly ‘caught’ within the remit of any single regulator and that there’s further work to be done to identify these gaps and address them.”

Further, Williams noted: “It also articulates the headache of allocating responsibility across existing supply chain actors within the AI life cycle and, therefore, proposes not to intervene at this stage. Contracts will need to continue to do the heavy lifting of allocating responsibility.”

According to Williams, for many these proposals will “stand in stark contrast” to the European Union’s rule-based approach. “The proposed UK approach has some upsides, such as flexibility balanced with a pragmatic approach, but several downsides, most notably around the continuing lack of certainty.”

Williams concluded: “Supporting regulators will be critical in making this approach workable and ensuring specific sector guidance is issued in a timely manner with real co-operation across the regulators. Regulators will be supported by a centralised function, it seems, which will require substantive investment in terms of resource and expertise.”