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Sir Keir Starmer is expected to introduce a long-awaited artificial intelligence bill this week as he seeks to follow through on Labour’s manifesto pledge to create binding rules to govern development of the most advanced machine-learning models.
The AI bill, one of 35 bills currently set to be included in the King’s Speech on Wednesday, will seek to enhance the legal safeguards surrounding the most cutting-edge AI technologies, according to people briefed on the plans.
The legislation is likely to focus on the production of large language models, the general-purpose technology that underlies AI products such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Other legislation to be set out in the speech will allow Starmer’s new government to axe hereditary peers from the House of Lords, empower the Office for Budget Responsibility to independently publish forecasts of big fiscal events, and implement worker protection reforms, including a crackdown on zero-hours contracts and “fire and rehire” practices.
The Labour administration will also resuscitate the previous Conservative government’s ambition to create a register of children missing from schools, as well as a cyber security bill to protect critical infrastructure from nefarious foreign actors.
Starmer’s legislative proposals will be monitored closely for signs of the scale of his ambition for the first few months of his premiership — a time many argue will represent the apex of his power.
His AI bill marks a departure from the strategy employed by former prime minister Rishi Sunak, who was reluctant to push for legal interventions in the development and rollout of AI models for fear tough regulation might stymie industry growth.
Sunak instead set out voluntary agreements between the government and companies, ruling out legislation in the short term.
The EU has taken a tougher approach. In March, the European parliament approved some of the first and strictest rules for regulating the technology through its Artificial Intelligence Act.
Last week, the Tony Blair Institute held a conference on AI’s potential to revolutionise government and public services, with guest speakers from Labour’s cabinet.
The former Labour prime minister noted the importance of Sunak’s AI Safety Summit held at Bletchley Park last year but said “we need to build on this fast”, adding that government needs to learn an entirely “new language” to fully harness the technology’s potential.
Labour’s manifesto outlined plans to “ensure the safe development and use of AI models by introducing binding regulation on the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models”.
Peter Kyle, the new technology and science secretary, said earlier this year that he was hoping to introduce a “statutory code” that would compel companies to release “all of their test data” and “tell us what they are testing for”.
Regulators, including the UK competition watchdog, have become increasingly concerned about the potential harms of AI technologies. These range from the possibility that algorithms could bake in biases that affect marginalised demographics, to the potential use of general-purpose models to create harmful materials.
Speaking about the King’s Speech on Sunday, leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell told the BBC the 35 bills were “not just a shopping list of things we’d quite like to do, these are fully considered, worked up bills that we know we can get through in this parliamentary session”.
This week Labour will also outline legislation to set up the centrepiece of its green energy plans — GB Energy, a new state-owned energy investor that will be based in Scotland and will take stakes in renewable energy and nuclear projects.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband on Sunday vowed to take “immediate action” to boost the role of solar power, as part of several steps aimed at meeting the government’s goal of cutting carbon emissions from electricity generation to net zero by 2030.
“We will encourage builders and homeowners in whatever way we can to deliver this win-win technology to millions of addresses in the UK so people can provide their own electricity, cut their bills and at the same time help fight climate change,” Miliband said.
On Friday, he approved three large solar projects in England that had been blocked by Sunak’s government, saying they would power the equivalent of up to 400,000 homes per year. One of the projects, Sunnica, would create 1,500 construction jobs, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said.
