A cross-party group of MPs and peers says the UK needs new laws to deal with the human rights risks posed by artificial intelligence. The Joint Committee on Human Rights published a 100-page report on the issue Monday.
The committee argues that current UK laws are not built to keep up with how fast AI is growing. It wants a new AI bill introduced to close the gaps.
Labour MP Alex Sobel chairs the committee. He said no country, including the UK, currently has AI laws that are fit for purpose.
Labour education minister Georgia Gould responded that AI is creating opportunities. She said the government understands it is critical to respond to the risks the technology brings.
The report lists several examples of AI causing harm. These include using AI to create sexualized images of women and girls, and scanning people's faces without consent.
What The Report Recommends
The committee wants a single, independent AI oversight body created by law. It says the current system is fragmented and hard to navigate, which leaves gaps in protection.
The report also calls for stricter rules for higher risk AI systems. This would apply at every stage of an AI system's life, from development to deployment.
Some uses of AI should be banned outright, according to the report. It names subliminal techniques and improper use of biometric data as areas that need action.
Sobel said AI is moving so fast that its effects are hard to predict. He said the UK is currently unprepared for the consequences, whatever they turn out to be.
The JCHR has 12 members from both Houses of Parliament. They come from the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
Government Response And Wider AI Concerns
Labour's 2024 election manifesto promised binding regulation on the companies building the most powerful AI models. The government also pledged new AI legislation in the King's Speech that year.
No dedicated AI bill appeared in this year's King's Speech, though. Gould said the government has still been regulating AI in other ways.
She pointed to action on non-consensual sexualized deepfakes and a related cyber security bill. She said the AI Security Institute is testing models as they enter the UK market.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham took office in July. He has AI Minister Kanishka Narayan attend cabinet meetings after scrapping the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
The report follows growing unease about AI's pace of development. A researcher who recently left Anthropic told the BBC this weekend that staff building these systems are frightened for humanity's future.
Anthropic told BBC News it is building models with strong industry safeguards. Its chief executive, Dario Amodei, proposed a plan this weekend calling for global and industry-wide AI regulation.
Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk both said they agreed with Amodei's call to slow down AI development. Researchers have also raised concerns that AI systems can show bias when trained on data scraped from the internet.
