UK government takes pro-innovation approach to AI
UK government’s push to bridge the AI skills gap comes with a focus on a risk based approach.
As industry predictions indicate an AI boom in 2023, the UK government has stepped up to plug the skills gap in the sector. At the end of 2022, the government evaluated the Industry-funded Masters in AI (IMAI) programme. IMAI aimed to “boost the opportunities available for applied training in artificial intelligence in the UK.”
Along with education, there has been a UK wide push for regulation. The Regulatory Horizons Council (RHC) published two independent reports in November on the regulation of neurotechnology and AI as a medical device.
Business Secretary, Grant Shapps stated that, “I intend to foster a regulatory approach that will promote innovation, growth and inward investment.”
In a continuation of this regulatory approach, the Alan Turing Institute has been chosen to pilot a UK government initiative, aimed at shaping standards and best practices in artificial intelligence.
The UK AI Standards Hub will be run by the Turing Institute, alongside support from the British Standards Institution and National Physical Laboratory, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Office for AI.
“The hub will ensure that industry, regulators, civil society and academic researchers have the tools and knowledge they need to contribute to the development of standards,” said Dr Florian Ostmann, of the Turing Institute.
The pro-innovation turn for UK AI policy comes as part of the country’s Brexit freedoms. This is distinct from the EU’s risk minimisation approach which seeks to to ban very high-risk AI system, and heavily moderate high risk systems.