The British parliament‘s Communications and Digital Committee of the House of Lords has warned that the United Kingdom’s approach to artificial intelligence has become overly preoccupied with AI safety and its potential dangers rather than its opportunities.
The committee stated in a report on artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs), the underlying components of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, that the technology would bring revolutionary changes on par with the internet.
However, the committee cautioned that the United Kingdom must re-evaluate its strategy and consider the opportunities presented by AI. If this does not occur, the United Kingdom risks relinquishing its global sway and developing a strategic reliance on foreign technology companies for a forthcoming standard in everyday existence.
At Bletchley Park in November 2023, the United Kingdom organized its inaugural AI Safety Summit. The summit centered on enduring risks associated with artificial intelligence, such as its potential existential menace, involvement in sophisticated cyberattacks, and vulnerability to malicious actors exploiting it to develop biological or toxic weapons.
The committee’s report advocated for increased funding for AI firms, a modernization of computing infrastructure, a greater emphasis on enhancing digital competencies, and additional investigation into the possibility of an “in-house” sovereign U.K. LLM.
To prevent undue influence by any party, the committee recommended that the government prioritize market competition as a key AI policy objective, despite the intense competition between developers of open and closed models in the AI sector, each seeking a regulatory framework that serves their interests.
Furthermore, the committee document suggested endorsing copyright, notwithstanding the necessity for novel legislation. The government should provide content proprietors with the authority to authenticate the appropriate usage of their data and allocate resources towards comprehensive, premium training datasets to promote technology companies’ adoption of licensed material.
The document emphasized the necessity for the government of the United Kingdom to assist in the form of efficient regulatory supervision. The immediate priority should be to develop accredited standards and common auditing methods at a rate that ensures responsible innovation, facilitates business adoption, and enables meaningful regulatory supervision.
