UK government positions itself away from EU on AI regulation while testing how light touch it can go

The UK government launched a trio of documents concerning AI on 18 July, all with the general purpose of fostering innovation, increasing public trust in the technology and giving clarity to business. But for the detail that will allow this, there is a wait until at least the end of the year when the government will publish its white paper on AI regulation, itself another pause for reflection. The department responsible is clear on the UK approach differing from that of the EU as regulation will be spread across six bodies rather than one dedicated regulator in the EU, but less clear on what the regulation will be for now other than so light-touch that it may just be guidance. In the meantime, one of the documents calls for views on regulation over the next 10 weeks. Last September, a trio of agencies (the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Business, Engergy and Industrial Strategy and the Office for Artificial Intelligence) released the National AI Strategy guidance which promised useful developments such as a transparency standard for AI coding, something of a world-first (subsequently published in December).