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The UK hosted more than 100 representatives from across the globe at its AI Safety Summit in early November 2023. Leading up to the summit, we outlined the UK governments objectives and its current approach to artificial intelligence (AI) regulation.

We have now reflected on the outcomes of the summit along with recent developments in the global regulatory landscape and have summarised our key takeaways below.

The summit facilitated a global conversation on AI safety and established forums intended to promote international collaboration on AI regulation. However, divergent views remain on exactly what type of regulation is required for AI, with multiple processes running in parallel both nationally and internationally.

Just a few days before the summit, G7 leaders and the US government progressed separate efforts to regulate AI with the G7 releasing a set of guiding principles and a voluntary code of conduct, and the Biden administration issuing an executive order on safe, secure and trustworthy AI. In addition, the UN recently launched a new Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, which will issue its own preliminary recommendations on building scientific consensus and making AI work for all of humanity by the end of 2023. While these initiatives may be helpful in establishing principles and promoting knowledge-sharing, it remains to be seen whether there will be an alignment of international standards for regulating AI. The risk of divergence has the potential to make this a challenging area for businesses to navigate.

At the EU level, disagreements on the regulation of foundation models may have potentially slowed the progress of negotiations on the draft EU AI Act. France, Germany and Italy have reportedly released a joint paper advocating for more limited regulation of foundation models. This contrasts with the position of other EU countries, such as Spain, which are in favour of more strict regulation of foundation models. The joint paper reportedly proposes an innovation-friendly approach to regulating foundation models based on mandatory self-regulation.

In relation to the UKs domestic policy, there was no mention of an AI bill in the Kings speech on 7 November 2023, despite continued pressure from the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee. Indeed, the government confirmed in its post-summit response to the committees interim report on AI governance that it is committed to maintaining a pro-innovation approach and will not rush to legislation. This response echoed UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks acknowledgement at the summit that binding requirements will likely be necessary to regulate AI in the future, but sufficient testing is needed to ensure legislation is based on empirical evidence.

The UK government is expected to issue the much-awaited response to its March 2023 AI white paper consultation later this year, and we will continue to monitor developments.

Cooley trainee Mo Swart also contributed to this alert.

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Beyond the UK AI Safety Summit Outcomes and Direction of Travel - Cooley LLC