Correspondence

Letter from DSIT and DBT Secretaries of State to the Competition and Markets Authority - HTML

Published 15 February 2024

Rt Hon Michelle Donelan MP
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation
and Technology
100 Parliament Street
London SW1A 2BQ

Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP
Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade
Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Pl
London SW1A 2DY

14 February 2024

Dear Sarah,

Delivering a pro-innovation approach to AI regulation

Last year, the Government published the AI Regulation White Paper outlining our framework for safe, responsible innovation in AI. The White Paper proposed that we will leverage the expertise of our regulators to implement the five principles underpinning the framework. We indicated that we would expect the UK’s regulators to interpret and apply these cross-cutting principles to AI use cases within their remits, allowing AI to be regulated in a targeted, context-specific, and coherent manner across the economy. The framework proposed is non-statutory for the time being. 

Our approach was broadly welcomed by stakeholders across industry, academia, and civil society. One of the key areas of feedback was the need to ensure that regulators were taking the risks and opportunities of AI within their remits seriously. Stakeholders wanted more detail on how the principles-based framework would be interpreted and applied by regulators to ensure that industry could prepare, government could coordinate, and civil society could scrutinize. As the use of AI becomes more widespread across the economy, we need greater transparency regarding the steps regulators are taking to understand the opportunities and the risks this creates, and how they propose to use their powers in response. 

We are therefore asking key regulators to publish an update by 30 April 2024, outlining their strategic approach to AI and the steps they are taking in line with the expectations in the White Paper. We would particularly value an update from your organisation given how significantly AI will affect sectors and markets across the economy. We have set out the information we would encourage you to cover in this update in the annex to this letter - although as an independent regulator, you are best placed to determine its form and substance. The annex focuses on the risks of AI and how you seek to mitigate them within your remit, however we are also keen to understand the opportunities you have identified from AI, such as using AI in your own activities or from facilitating its use in the sectors or fields that you regulate. 

We are determined to unlock the full benefits of AI by establishing a regulatory approach which drives safe, responsible innovation and is based on sound understanding of the technology and a proportionate application of any relevant laws. This will require a sustained effort from both the UK government and the independent regulators at the front line of implementing the framework.  

Please note that this request will be published alongside the White Paper consultation response to ensure transparency around the steps we are taking collectively to develop the AI regulatory framework. 

Rt Hon Michelle Donelan MP
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP
Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade

Annex

Regulators are best placed to determine the detailed form and substance of this update. However, they may want to consider including information on specific areas of interest which we have detailed below. Where suitable, we are happy for regulators to signpost pre-existing material.

• Their current assessment of how AI applies within the scope of their regulatory responsibilities including an explanation of their enabling legislation and its relevance in the context of AI.
• The steps they are already taking to adopt the AI principles set out in the White Paper – where possible this should include concrete examples of the actions they have taken.
• A summary of guidance they have issued or plan to issue on how the principles interact with existing legislation and the steps organisations they regulate should take in line with the principles.
• The work they are doing to understand, assess and manage the current and emerging risks posed by AI as relevant to their sector and remit. This could range from social harms such as bias and discrimination, to broader harms such as cyber security, privacy risks, and potential for AI misuse from bad actors (to be informed in due course by the government’s central AI risk assessment).
• Consider interactions and overlap between their area of responsibility and that of other regulators. They could also cover any assessments on AI risks and opportunities that they have made, and how their regulatory, supportive and enforcement approaches will seek to tackle them.
• The steps they have taken to collaborate with other regulators to identify and tackle AI-related issues that cut across regulatory remits.
• An explanation of their current capability to address AI risks within their regulatory remit - and how this compares with their assessment of the capabilities they need. This should set out the structures and resources they currently have in place including an assessment – e.g. quantified if possible – a) the number of people working partly or fully on AI-related issues, b) the budget they have allocated to AI-related issues, c) specific skills and expertise they require in order to effectively regulate AI within their sector.
• A forward look of their plans and activities over the coming 12 months, this should include the actions they are taking to address any capability gaps identified above and could also include – but need not be limited to – risk assessment work they plan to undertake, tools and/or guidance they are preparing, planned stakeholder engagement activity, and international engagement. It would be useful to understand how they may prioritise their organisation’s resources to support the work within this forward look.