If the government is clear that the legislative framework is not adequate then it should update that legislative framework.

April was a watershed moment for AI regulation. The European Union (EU) Commission published its AI Act, an ambitious proposal for a comprehensive legislative framework for AI - the first from a major global economy. In the words of Margrethe Vestager, EU Commission Executive Vice President and Technology Commissioner, the aim is'for Europe to become a global leader in trustworthy AI'. The Act will apply to organisations providing or using AI systems in the EU. But it will also apply to providers and users located in other countries, including the UK, if their AI systems affect individuals in the EU.

In March this year, the UK government announced an assertive agenda on artificial intelligence (AI) by launching a UK Cyber Security Council and revealing plans to publish a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (the UK Strategy). The details of the UK Strategy will be released later this year, but at this point we understand that it will focus in particular on promoting growth of the economy through widespread use of AI with, at the same time, an emphasis on ethical, safe, and trustworthy development of AI--including through the development of a legislative framework for AI which will promote public trust and a level playing field. Shortly after the UK government's announcement, the EU Commission published a proposed EU-wide AI legislative framework (the EU Regulation) which is part of the Commission's overall "AI package". The EU Regulation is focused on ensuring the safety of individuals and the protection of fundamental human rights, and categorises AI into unacceptable, high- or low-risk use cases. The EU Regulation proposes to protect users "where the risks that the AI systems pose are particularly high". The definition and categories of high-risk use cases of AI are broad, and capture many if not most use cases that relate to individuals, including AI use in the context of biometric identification and categorisation of natural persons, management of critical infrastructure, and employment and worker management.

While the British governmenthas authorized the presence of level 3 autonomous vehicles on public roads, it is now Germany's turn to propose a first legal framework around these transport systems. On May 19, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, approved a law that would allow certain autonomous vehicles to drive on public roads. If the text is validated by the Bundesrat, the upper house of the German parliament, cars with a level 4 autonomy system could be used in certain settings. The bill entitled "The Compulsory Insurance Act – Autonomous Driving Act" was approved by the Bundestag on 19 May. With this new text, Germany wants to catch up with automated driving while encouraging further research on the subject.

It's mind-blowing how much world-shaping work that gets done in hotel ballrooms. Machine learning experts regularly gather at conferences around the world to discuss noteworthy work and how to move the industry forward. Few are fortunate enough to attend in person, but you can sometimes find video online. The most recent example: The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) met in Hawaii last week, and among topics discussed was the roadmap for AI research in the United States for the next 20 years. The process to create a plan for the next two decades started in November with private workshops attended by academics and people from industry.

When new banking laws are passed, the text is written in legal language at the framework level. But to actually take effect, much of that language needs to be interpreted by regulators, then interpreted by financial executives and their bank operating staff, and then translated into technology-driven actions. That latter work is done by those who possess science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, skills, including software engineers, data scientists and a cadre of other professionals who wrestle with turning legal terms and regulations into actionable financial services activities through computer code and algorithms. It's important that those at the front end of this information -- legislators, regulators and financial executives -- become conversant in these skills, lest the back-end stumbles over meaning and intent and, in some cases, declares it impossible to be implemented. In his recent testimony before Congress, Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, responded to many questions by referring to the company's use of artificial intelligence.