Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Sir Keir Starmer said his government would “harness the power of AI” — but a bill to regulate the new technology has been put on hold in a move that surprised many figures in the tech industry.
The King’s Speech on Wednesday said the Labour government would “seek to establish the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models”.
But there was no dedicated AI bill among the 40 announced at the state opening of parliament. Other missing measures included votes for 16-year-olds and an overhaul of social care.
Science secretary Peter Kyle, whose department oversees the work on AI, is hopeful a measure could yet be finalised and included later in the first session of parliament.
Allies of Kyle said the AI bill was squeezed out because his department was already sponsoring a bill on digital information and smart data, and a separate bill on cyber security.
They said the second measure was urgently needed to update Britain’s cyber security framework after it was left in “a dreadful state” by the previous Conservative government. “We hadn’t planned to do this,” said one aide to Kyle. “It wasn’t even mentioned in our manifesto.”
Kyle’s allies said the AI draft bill was largely complete and, in its current form, mandated government access to the most powerful generation of new AI models for testing and evaluation.
But Number 10 said caution was needed: “It’s critical we get this right,” said a spokesman for Starmer.
One senior figure in the tech sector said: “My suspicion is that they opted not to present this [AI regulation] now as they didn’t want to upset their growth narrative.” They noted that introducing binding regulation at this early stage in the government could be seen as hampering the growth of a crucial sector.
About half of the bills selected for inclusion in the King’s Speech were touted as changes that would boost the UK’s economic performance — which the new government has named as its defining mission.
Former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak warned against excessive or clumsy regulation in the House of Commons on Wednesday. “We should all be careful not to endanger this country’s leading position in this field,” he said.
There were a number of other bills that did not make the final cut in Starmer’s first set-piece event.
These included proposals for the mandatory retirement of peers from the House of Lords at the end of any parliament during which they turned 80, and a commitment to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds — both of which were manifesto pledges.
There was no legislation to create another wave of “new towns”, a long-standing promise from the Labour party, though a process to select appropriate locations for the new conurbations is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
There was no bill put forward that would pave the way for Starmer’s pledge to set up an Integrity and Ethics Commission to “ensure probity” in public office.
There were also no dedicated measures on Britain’s spiralling welfare bill, or to reform social care, a subject that has now been kicked into the long grass with a new Royal Commission.
Additional reporting by Rafe Uddin and Jim Pickard
Read the full article here