Sunak says AI must be introduced with "guard rails in place"
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that the UK will lead on limiting the dangers of artificial intelligence after calls for a moratorium were heard from tech experts and business leaders.
Sunak stated AI must be introduced “safely and securely with guard rails in place” but could have certain benefits for society.
This follows a letter, signed by nearly 30,000, including Elon Musk and Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak, called for a pause in significant projects to allow for the capabilities and dangers of ChatGBT-4, such as disinformation and fraud, to be properly studied first.
In March, the government launched a regulatory programme as well as a new £100 million UK taskforce last month to develop “safe and reliable” applications for AI, aiming to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030.
Speaking on a plane to Japan for the G7 summit, where AI will be discussed, Sunak said a global approach to regulation was needed.
“We have taken a deliberately iterative approach because the technology is evolving quickly and we want to make sure that our regulation can evolve as it does as well.” “Now that is going to involve coordination with our allies … you would expect it to form some of the conversations at the G7.” “I think that the UK has a track record of being in a leadership position and bringing people together, particularly in regard to technological regulation in the online safety bill … And again, the companies themselves, in that instance as well, have worked with us and looked to us to provide those guard rails as they will do and have done on AI.”
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to publish a “pre-warming” review in September, looking at the underlying systems behind AI tools.
Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s outgoing chief scientific adviser, also urged ministers to “get ahead” of the profound social and economic changes that AI could trigger.
In his statement, Vallance predicted that the impact on jobs would rival that of the Industrial Revolution.
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