Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Deferred
Paragraph: 82
Evaluate whether existing budgets can fund new AI regulation expertise without compromising other functions.
Recommendation
We question, however, whether existing regulators have the expertise to perform the functions proposed in the recent White Paper on regulation of AI. If regulators will need to recruit additional staff with such expertise, the Government should consider carefully whether they can do so from existing budgets without compromising other important regulatory functions.
Government Response Summary
The government describes existing AI initiatives and states the Director of Labour Market Enforcement will consider AI threats, explicitly referring the specific recommendation for budget consideration to the DLME rather than committing to direct government action.
Paragraph Reference:
82
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The AI Standards Hub was launched in October 2022 to improve the governance of AI, complement pro-innovation regulation and unlock the huge economic potential of these technologies to boost investment and employment now the UK has left the European Union. The Standards Hub is intended to provide a coordinated contribution to standards development on issues such as transparency, security, and uncertainty, with a view to helping organisations demonstrate that AI is used safely and responsibly. The AI Standards Hub held an inaugural session of the AI Standards Forum for UK Regulators in March 2023. Post-pandemic economic growth: UK labour markets: Government Response 11 The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation published also published its AI assurance roadmap in December 2021. Impact assessments, performance testing and, possibly, pre- release verification or certification against AI standards in the longer term, are a few of the assurance mechanisms that can help organisations innovate responsibly while also determining whether an AI system complies with applicable standards and regulations. For labour market enforcement bodies specifically, the Director of Labour Market Enforcement has a statutory responsibility to assess the scale and nature of non- compliance in the labour market. Her 2022–23 strategy was published in March and sets out her assessment of the risks in the labour market and for vulnerable workers. The DLME has identified that there are potential implications from AI and as part of the annual risk assessment, will be holding an exercise to consider the wider threats of AI and jurisdictions. We will refer your recommendation to the DLME. Workers’ Rights and Protections