UK Parliament Joint Committee Calls for New AI Bill
The UK's Joint Committee on Human Rights publishes a 100-page report urging a new AI bill to regulate risks and establish an independent oversight body.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published a 100-page report urging the UK government to pass a new AI bill.
- Proposes a single, independent statutory AI oversight body, risk-level classifications, and outright bans on harmful uses.
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei previously proposed global regulation and a slowdown, backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk.
- A former Anthropic AI researcher told the BBC that development staff are genuinely frightened for the future of humanity.
A cross-party group of 12 MPs and peers from the Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat parties, forming the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), has published a 100-page report identifying human rights risks posed by artificial intelligence that existing laws are ill-equipped to handle.
In its report, the JCHR highlighted numerous AI-driven abuses, including the generation of sexualised images of women and girls and facial scanning without consent. The committee also pointed out that AI trained on internet datasets can exhibit biases against specific groups and be exploited to create and spread misinformation.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The JCHR called for a new AI bill to address the scale and seriousness of these threats, advocating for the creation of a single, independent statutory AI oversight body. The proposed regulatory regime would classify different risk levels and impose stricter obligations across all stages of the AI supply chain, from design and modification to utilisation.
"AI is heralded as an unprecedented era of technological development with the potential to transform our lives for better or for worse."
Furthermore, the committee stated that certain uses of AI should be prohibited outright because they violate human rights, specifically citing subliminal techniques and the inappropriate use of profiling or biometric data as areas requiring immediate action.
The UK parliamentary committee's recommendations highlight the growing international urgency to balance rapid technological innovation with robust protection for fundamental human rights. Establishing statutory oversight and tiered risk regulations reflects a broader global shift toward holding tech developers accountable for societal impacts, particularly regarding automated surveillance and content generation.
This report follows recent global discussions on AI safety. On Saturday, Dario Amodei, CEO of US AI firm Anthropic, proposed a plan encompassing global and industry-wide regulation alongside independent model monitoring, urging a slowdown in development speeds—a sentiment echoed by rival executives Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk.
Meanwhile, Jacob Coxon, an AI researcher who recently quit Anthropic, told the BBC that staff building these systems are genuinely frightened for humanity's future. An Anthropic spokesperson told BBC News the company builds models with some of the industry's strongest safeguards, while BBC News has sought government comment on the proposed AI legislation.
Source: BBC Politics
Found something wrong in this article? Report an issue with this article
Comments
Leave a Comment