AI regulation: U.K. sits on regulatory fence between U.S. and E.U.

The U.K. has pressed pause on artificial intelligence (AI) regulation as its government comes under twin pressures from those who fear the growing power of unregulated AI and the overriding need to generate growth. The postponement of long-expected legislation means that the U.K. is left sitting on the fence between federal deregulation policies in the U.S. and the EU’s ground-breaking AI Act. What does this mean for organizations that want consistency and clarity?

City AM reported the delays, saying that “three Labour [Party] sources” had told the paper the “long-awaited AI bill will now be pushed back until at least summer 2025”. However, many experts think it is unlikely to appear this year. The U.K. government had planned to require large language model (LLM) AI companies, such as OpenAI, owner of ChatGPT, to submit their models for testing by the U.K.’s AI Safety Institute. This has now been postponed indefinitely.

Last month, the U.K. also aligned itself with the U.S. by refusing to sign an international AI declaration at a global AI summit in Paris, in opposition to EU countries, plus others, including India and China. The declaration pledged the signatories to pursuing “open,” “inclusive,” and “ethical” AI development.