Artificial Intelligence: Regulation

Question

We have been actively promoting the UK AI Regulatory Model - as set out in the AI Regulation White Paper published in March 2023 - to other governments through both bilateral engagements and multilateral fora. For example, this has included presenting the white paper at the OECD’s Working Party on AI Governance meeting in Paris. In the same month, the Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy attended the G7 Digital Ministerial meeting in Japan, where the UK agreed to the G7 Digital Ministerial Declaration. Crucially, the Declaration endorses an Action Plan for promoting global interoperability between tools for trustworthy AI - a key component of the AI Regulation White Paper. Building on these efforts, on 7th June 2023, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will host the first major Global Summit on AI Safety this autumn. The Summit will consider the risks of AI, including frontier systems, and discuss how they can be mitigated through internationally coordinated action. It will also provide a platform for countries to work together on further developing a shared approach to mitigate these risks.

As examples of bilateral activity, on 8th June 2023, the UK government agreed to the Atlantic Declaration with the United States. In lockstep with the UK’s AI Regulatory Model, both the UK and U.S. have agreed to accelerate cooperation on AI with a focus on ensuring its safe and responsible development. Similarly, on 18th May 2023, the Government agreed to the Hiroshima Accord with Japan, which pledges to focus future UK-Japan AI discussions on promoting human-centric and trustworthy AI and interoperability between AI governance frameworks.

Active international engagement on AI is a key priority for the Government. We are working closely with many international partners to both learn from, and influence, regulatory and non-regulatory developments. In line with the UK’s International Tech Strategy, we will continue to shape global AI activities in line with UK values and priorities, protecting against efforts to adopt and apply AI technologies in the service of authoritarianism and repression.