government

UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

The UK department responsible for national AI policy, regulatory coordination and government-backed AI evaluation capacity.

Policy questions

Recorded interests

Frontier safety

Should frontier models face mandatory evaluations?

Evaluation language is widespread in policy texts. Thresholds, evaluators and legal consequences remain contested.

Institutional design

Should sector regulators own AI rules instead of a horizontal act?

The UK white paper and Singapore’s Model Framework both privilege existing regulators or voluntary tools over an early omnibus AI Act.

Policy asks

Connected outcomes

adopted

Implement AI principles through existing regulators on a non-statutory basis first

Issue cross-cutting AI principles without immediate statute and assign implementation to existing sector regulators.

Policy vehicles

guidance · Published

UK AI regulation white paper (pro-innovation approach)

UK policy paper proposing five AI principles implemented by existing regulators on a non-statutory basis initially.

Event history

Recorded actions

2023-03-29
UK publishes AI regulation white paper
The government presented its pro-innovation AI regulation white paper to Parliament.

Evidence

Passages linked to this actor

Direct sourceOpen evidence record

UK white paper keeps AI principles non-statutory initially

The white paper states principles will be issued on a non-statutory basis and implemented by existing regulators.

We will not put these principles on a statutory footing initially. … Instead, the principles will be issued on a non-statutory basis and implemented by existing regulators.

UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology · UK AI regulation white paper · paragraph 11