Approved work: Policy implications of artificial intelligence

AI has featured prominently within recent political and media discourse. In July 2022, the UK Government published a consultation paper on establishing a ‘pro-innovation’ approach to AI, which was followed by a white paper in March 2023 containing proposals for regulatory reform. The Prime Minister has announced that he wants to make the UK “the geographical home of global AI safety regulation” and is planning to host a global summit on AI safety in November. The UK Government has also recently announced notable investments, including £54 million to develop trustworthy AI research, £100 million for a taskforce to develop a safe and reliable foundational generative AI model, £117 million to create hundreds of new PhDs for AI researchers, and around £900 million to establish a new AI Research Resource.

This POSTnote will provide a high-level overview of the potential policy issues that AI raises. These could include economic and societal benefits, and risks, for example relating to disinformation, national security, and existential risks. It would lay out the current UK regulatory environment for AI design, testing, training, deployment, and use, and consider proposals for future regulations. It will be a policy-focused accompaniment to the technical explainer that is already in production, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies.

Work on this briefing will commence in mid-September 2023. We will be accepting contributions until middle of October 2023.

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