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IET response to the AI Growth Lab

AI is influencing how businesses, industries and technologies operate now and in the future. Digital technologies can help bolster resilience across a range of sectors by providing a greater insight into scenario modelling and provide insightful data analytics to help inform decision making. By showing how AI can be used successfully, it will encourage other sectors to adopt AI.

The AI Growth Lab has the potential to achieve this level of robustness before deploying to a real-life scenario. However, centralisation of the AI Growth Lab is needed as there are a number of different AI sandboxes being developed across government that are siloed, in addition to the recently announced AI incubator.

IET recommendations:

  • A centralised model with oversight – The IET recommends that the AI Growth Lab should be designed as a centralised model, in the Cabinet Office’s portfolio, so there is more coordination across government. Oversight should consist of public scrutiny and reporting, with Parliamentary scrutiny when modifying or disapplying regulation within the AI Growth Lab. 
  • High quality and real time data – The IET recommends designing the AI Growth Lab so that it can access representative data. 
  • Regulation – AI safety and the assessment of risk must go beyond the physical, to look at financial, societal, reputational and risks to mental health, amongst other harms.  
  • Data governance – There should be firm rules on which data can and cannot be used to train AI systems.  
  • Ensuring competency – Competency is pivotal to the successful uptake of AI. Cross-sector collaboration, and capable workforces are key to wide-spread usage of AI. If government shows to be successfully using AI, then other sectors will be encouraged to suitably adopt AI.