Regulating AI: British Government Publishes its First Official Policy Document

Prime Minister Sunak Identifies The Risks & Potential Of AI

For the first time, the British Government has published an official policy document on the capabilities and risks arising from the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), drawing on sources which include intelligence assessments. And AI can make it easier to build chemical and biological weapons, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured) said in a speech at the Royal Institute last week.

The prime minister’s speech on the capabilities and potential risks posed by AI included cyber attacks and fraud.

AI will pose major security risks to the UK within two years and has the potential to “enhance” terrorist capabilities, new analysis by the Sunak government has warned. Sunak emphasised that mitigating the risk of human extinction because of AI should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war and on the local level “Criminals could exploit AI for cyber attacks, disinformation, fraud or even child sexual abuse,” he said.

Prime Minister Sunak also talked about the establishment of a UK AI Safety Institute which, he said would be a world first and would test new types of AI for a range of risks from generating misinformation to posing an existential threat. Unfortunately, society could lose all control of switiching AI on or off, said Sunak.

His speech aimed to show the UK as a global AI leader and the PM said the technology was already creating UK jobs.

Sunak said among the risks outlined in the report was that AI could be used by terrorist groups “to spread fear and disruption on an even greater scale”. He added that development of the technology would increase economic growth and productivity, but it could have a negative impact on the UK labour market.

Mitigating the risk of human extinction from AI should be a “global priority”, he said. But he added: “This is not a risk that people need to be losing sleep over right now and I don’t want to be alarmist.” He said that he was generally “optimistic” about the potential of AI to transform people’s lives for the better.

According to the British government’s Safety and Security Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence to 2025 Report, AI The risks fall into at least three overlapping domains:-

Digital risks are assessed to be the most likely and have the highest impact to 2025. Threats include cybercrime and hacking. Generative AI will also improve digital defences to these threats.

Risks to political systems and societies will increase in likelihood to 2025, becoming as significant as digital risks as generative AI develops and adoption widens. Threats include manipulation and deception of populations.

Physical risks will likely rise as generative AI becomes embedded into more physical systems, including critical infrastructure and the built environment. If implemented without adequate safety and security controls, AI may introduce new risks of failure and vulnerabilities to attack.

Experts continue to be divided about the threat posed by AI and previous fears about other emerging technologies have so far not materialised.