Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks posed by the deployment of autonomous AI agents by businesses, in particular for governance, security and data protection; and what steps they are taking to mitigate those risks.

The progression of autonomous AI capabilities offers transformative potential to UK industries, the economy and productivity. However, the more complex and more sensitive the tasks we delegate to AI, the more thoughtful we must be about how we deploy the technology.

To facilitate responsible use of AI, the Roadmap to Trusted Third‑Party AI Assurance sets out the Government’s ambitions for the UK’s AI assurance market and the immediate actions we are taking to help the sector mature. This includes establishing the £11 million AI Assurance Innovation Fund and convening a national consortium of expert stakeholders to support the quality and growth of the assurance market.

This is complemented by the work of the AI Security Institute who are working to deepen our understanding of the novel risks posed by autonomous AI systems.