Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to Qq715-720 of the oral evidence given to the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee by her Department's Director General, Digital Technologies and Telecoms, on 8 November 2023, on what evidential basis her Department concluded that (a) the Information Commissioner's Office and (b) other regulators have sufficient powers to counter the risks associated with artificial intelligence.

The Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) existing powers enable them to address a wide range of current and emerging risks relating to AI within their remit. The ICO has assessed how data protection applies in an AI context. They have identified it as a priority area, due to its potential to pose a high risk to individuals and their rights and freedoms. The ICO has already produced guidance and practical resources, including guidance on ‘AI and Data Protection’, clarifying requirements for fairness in AI.

More broadly, many UK regulators are already taking action to regulate AI in their existing remits, including developing new regulatory tools in the context of AI. For example, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has published a roadmap for software and AI as a medical device and the Competition and Markets Authority recently published a report on their initial review of AI foundation models. Alongside this, we have begun work to establish a new central function to support regulators to deliver the AI regulatory framework, enabling knowledge exchange and support regulator coordination. We are engaging closely with regulators across the UK and their sponsoring government departments to understand their readiness to regulate AI effectively. This will inform our work to develop policy options with a view to addressing gaps that emerge, which could include future consideration of extending a regulator’s remit or adding additional powers.