LONDON — The U.K. is considering a unique approach to regulating artificial intelligence, suggesting a potential departure from the strategies employed by its main Western counterparts. Feryal Clark, Britain’s minister for AI and digital government, emphasized the importance of the U.K. setting its own regulatory path in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. She highlighted the government’s positive relationship with AI companies such as OpenAI and Google DeepMind, which have voluntarily allowed the government to test their models for safety.
Clark stressed the significance of prioritizing safety during the development of AI models and expressed the government’s intention to collaborate with the sector on implementing safety measures. Prime Minister Keir Starmer also emphasized the U.K.’s newfound regulatory freedom post-Brexit, enabling the country to choose a regulatory approach that aligns with its best interests.
Unlike the EU, which has introduced comprehensive legislation for AI regulation, the U.K. has not yet implemented formal laws for regulating artificial intelligence. Instead, it relies on individual regulatory bodies to enforce existing rules concerning AI development and usage. The U.S., on the other hand, lacks federal AI regulation and has adopted a patchwork of regulatory frameworks at the state and local levels.
The Labour Party had pledged in its manifesto to introduce regulations focusing on frontier AI models, but specific details on proposed AI safety legislation in the U.K. are yet to be confirmed. The U.K. is currently engaging with the industry to develop formal rules in consultation with the sector.
While the EU is progressing with its AI Act, the U.K. is taking a cautious approach to AI regulation. The government is considering reforms related to copyright to accommodate AI developers using artists’ works for training models. Some voices in the U.K. tech community advocate for a flexible approach to AI regulation, suggesting that sector-specific rules tailored to industries like financial services and healthcare could be beneficial.
