An Ethical AI Future: Guardrails & Catalysts to make Artificial Intelligence a Force for Good

Recent warnings from leaders and scientists have focussed the world’s attention on the amazing opportunities from Artificial Intelligence (AI) but also existing and potential future harms. The report from UK’s Ccross-party think tank Policy Connect’s report, ‘An Ethical AI Future: Guardrails & Catalysts to make Artificial Intelligence a Force for Good’, led by Daniel Zeichner MP, Lord Tim Clement-Jones and Lord Chris Holmes of Richmond, sets out how AI can be well regulated to deliver huge benefits to individuals and society now and in the future.

The inquiry was carried out as part of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Data Analytics’ (APGDA) work. It reviewed the UK Government’s White Paper A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation and agreed the analysis of the risks and opportunities to the UK from new forms of AI. But harnessing the opportunities needs proper regulation and governance.

Contributors stressed that industry needs an unambiguous and responsive regulatory environment to foster growth and innovation. There was unanimity that the Government needs to move at scale and speed nationally; this will also help put the UK at the heart of international work.

The APGDA report sets out practical measures to achieve a supportive regulatory and governance environment that will embed the principles in the White Paper. Building on good practice for good governance, the report calls for:

• The UK Government to work with partners in Europe, the US and elsewhere towards a global AI Convention and Watchdog.
• The creation of a UK National AI Centre to convene existing regulators, ensure agile regulation of AI, and fill any regulatory gaps.
• The UK Government to introduce statutory duties worded such as to require organisations to achieve the objective of ‘doing no harm’ through ‘cultural embedding’ governance and leadership.

The National AI Centre for the UK would bring together existing AI ethics and research bodies and be properly resourced with strong powers to make things happen. The UK National AI Centre would build on current coordination work across regulators, to ensure there are no overlaps and gaps in regulation, and would carry out research to foresee future scenarios, so that the technical and policy guardrails can be adjusted to support innovation while protecting citizens against harm. It uses as its model the internationally renounced National Cyber Security Centre.

Policy Connect’s inquiry heard from industry leaders, academia, regulators, and civil society. All have contributed to developing policy proposals that will help the UK to reach its ambition of becoming a world leader in the ethical use of data and AI.

About this Report

This is the third in a series of reports that Policy Connect has carried out on behalf of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Data Analytics. The inquiry which produced this report was co-chaired by Daniel Zeichner MP, Lord Holmes of Richmond, Lord Clement-Jones. The inquiry received evidence from leading figures from parliament, industry, academia, and the third sector.

The inquiry was kindly sponsored by Bright Data, EY, Jisc, and Zurich Insurance.