UK won't rush to regulate AI, says first-ever minister for digital brainboxes
- Reference: 1700205965
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/17/uk_ai_regulation/
- Source link:
In other words, Britain hopes to attract machine-learning talent and business by offering a relatively lax regulatory environment for startups and Big Tech to play in.
Jonathan Berry, 5th Viscount Camrose to give him his full title, is a member of the House of Lords and the country's first minister to hold the portfolio, created by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in March 2023. He confirmed the government is taking a hands-off approach to regulating AI, at least "in the short term."
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His comments come weeks after the UK hosted the global AI Summit, a conference at which national leaders plus top tech executives discussed the impact and safety risks of modern neural networks. Unlike some of the attendees, like the [2]EU or [3]China , for example, the UK decided not to address potential AI dangers with strict legislation. Instead, it prefers the "pro-innovation" approach.
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"I would never criticize any other nation's act on this," Camrose [6]said during a Financial Times conference. "But there is always a risk of premature regulation. Scrambling to regulate AI would limit the technology, he argued.
"You are not actually making anybody as safe as it sounds", he added. "You are stifling innovation, and innovation is a very, very important part of the AI equation."
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Britain's decision to not introduce legislation to regulate AI isn't surprising, as in August the nation’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Office for Artificial Intelligence published a [8]white paper that stressed how artificial intelligence was vital for the country's economic growth.
"To ensure we become an AI superpower, though, it is crucial that we do all we can to create the right environment to harness the benefits of AI and remain at the forefront of technological developments," Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, previously [9]wrote in a March preview of the white paper.
Donelan declared herself opposed to a "heavy-handed and rigid approach", which could "stifle innovation and slow AI adoption", and said the government preferred an approach that "relies on collaboration between government, regulators and business.”
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That approach aligns with Prime Minister Sunak's recent announcements that Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic had reportedly committed to giving "early or priority access" of their models so that the government could probe their capabilities and safety risks. They have also entered into similar voluntary agreements with the US government.
The White House is also yet to push for laws or rules that regulate AI. That said, President Biden [11]urged Congress to pass bipartisan legislation "to help America lead the way in responsible innovation."
[12]UK convinces nations to sign Bletchley Declaration in bid for AI safety
[13]AI luminaries call for urgent regulation to head off future threats, but Meta's brainbox boss disagrees
[14]Yeah, that oughta do the trick, Joe... Biden hopes to tackle AI safety with exec order
[15]Don't worry, folks. Big Tech pinky swears it'll build safe, trustworthy generative AI
Experts within academia and industry are torn over AI regulation. British computer scientist and former Google researcher Geoff Hinton, for example, has [16]spoken out about the potential dangers of machines becoming smarter than humans at writing code that could create negative outcomes. Others, like Meta's AI head Yann LeCun, believe arguments about AI posing an existential threat are overblown and is wary that regulation would hinder open-source efforts to study and build AI.
"Like many, I very much support open AI platforms because I believe in a combination of forces: people's creativity, democracy, market forces, and product regulations. I also know that producing AI systems that are safe and under our control is possible. I've made concrete proposals to that effect. This will all drive people to do the Right Thing," LeCun [17]said . ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZVdH19p4kxZLn6etJVaZGQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/15/european_parliament_ai_act/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/12/china_ai_regulation/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVdH19p4kxZLn6etJVaZGQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.ft.com/content/ecef269b-be57-4a52-8743-70da5b8d9a65
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVdH19p4kxZLn6etJVaZGQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-regulation-a-pro-innovation-approach
[9] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-regulation-a-pro-innovation-approach/white-paper
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVdH19p4kxZLn6etJVaZGQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/30/us_president_to_sign_new/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/01/uk_ai_summit/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/24/ai_safety_regulation_open_letter/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/30/us_president_to_sign_new/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/12/nvidia_adobe_palantir_ai_safety/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/01/ai_geoffrey_hinton_resigns/
[17] https://twitter.com/ylecun/status/1718670073391378694
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Congratulations, Viscount
So that AI summit was a lot of hot air, in Sunak's fashion.
But at least he was chatting with actual billionaire.
Good luck regulating anything anyway
It's going to take at least a decade before we figure out what can be regulated and how. Success will likely be partial, like the enforcement of copyright laws.
Doublespeak
The UK government will not rush to pass new laws that regulate AI, to avoid hampering innovation and potential financial growth of big corporations and give them time to establish themselves before they start anticipating brown envelopes before pulling the ladders so no smaller players could get in and grow.
FTFY
That being said, another reason might be that it is probably less than a year to the elections and by that time Con-servative party will be no more, so he could as well have said they can't be bothered.
This is so going to bite
the UK in the ass in the not too distant future.
Short term profit addiction will always come before the wellbeing of citizens, especially when the citizens are not US ones.
Giving US companies a free hand is not going to end well for the UK public.
Re: This is so going to bite
There is nothing wrong with "profit addiction". It's what drives growth among other things.
The problem is that corrupt UK government only allows big multinational tax avoiding corporation to have such addiction and then makes everyone else go cold turkey.
So applying economic free market ideology to the legislation of tech then?
This sounds much like the Tories economic approach and approach to governance in general:
Government and laws which hamper business is bad mmmmmkay?
We need to laws to control any dissenters though of course...
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I wonder if there's any tangible risk to allowing the unfettered development of AI systems? Many people have some rational caution here but not the UK...
Re: So applying economic free market ideology to the legislation of tech then?
They actually say:
Government and laws which hamper (mates) business is bad mmmmmkay?
Hmm
I am actually impressed. The usual government problem is to be seen to be doing something no matter how much harm that something is. Actually restraining themselves from rushing in half baked is fairly impressive.
A fine example of the'Yes Minister' disease
Where not making a decision is regarded as a success.
We are doomed I tell ye, doomed.
Regulate the future by looking at the past?
> Scrambling to regulate AI would limit the technology, he argued.
The sort of [1]AI we have now is less than 10 years old . So to try and create an effective regulatory framework for the future, based on what is considered good / bad now, will make nailing jelly to the ceiling look like childs play
[1] https://toloka.ai/blog/history-of-generative-ai/
Short term hands off ...
actually means we allow as much data to be slurped as possible, get our LLMs all sorted out with as much personal data sold to "trusted third parties" as possible and only then regulate the use of personal data in LLMs by which time it's too late for our data and those "trusted third parties" are retired in Bermuda.
Congratulations, Viscount
You got yourself a nice, cushy job of doing absolutely nothing.
Must be mighty comfortable up there, eh ? I'm guessing you're already rich, so this is just more gravy to you.
Well, if ever you should find yourself with a slight urge to actually work, don't forget to create a commission to analyze whatever itches you and bury it under a twenty-seven page report with their proposals on the last three pages. That way you can spend your tenure requiring rewriting and clarifications and you'll leave as you arrived : useless.