The risks of Artificial Intelligence rolls-on

The Competition and Markets Authority recently provided further commentary on the risks associated with unregulated development of AI systems. In a reported commentary on the government’s White Paper: a pro-innovation approach, they said:

“There are four key messages we would like to emphasise:

(a) We support government’s approach of initially placing the principles themselves on a non-statutory footing.

(b) We have begun considering how each of the proposed principles might apply to our current and future remit. Some of these principles are more closely related to our remit than others. We look forward to discussing this further with government as it takes this policy forward.

(c) We recognise the need for the central coordination function(s), to support the implementation, monitoring and development of the framework and promote coherence across regulators. We commend the intention not to duplicate the work of regulators and encourage making use of existing institutions’ expertise where it exists.

(d) Finally, we support cross-regulatory coordination and coherence, through the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) and other initiatives.5 We acknowledge the need to ensure AI innovators are adequately supported and will support government in delivering a cross-regulatory AI sandbox or testbed with our DRCF colleagues. We are looking forward to sharing the learnings of the DRCF pilot for a similar advisory service which should conclude in August 2023.”

The idea that self-educating systems may quickly outgrow the oversight capability of its creators is perhaps the most challenging aspect of the recent surge in AI systems development. The impacts on employment and security need to be carefully considered. The debate on these issues will no doubt increase as more investment by high-tech conglomerates intensifies the race for AI supremacy.