Labour’s plans for AI regulation in the King’s speech

This morning the UK’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, laid out his Government’s plans for the upcoming parliamentary term through the King’s speech.

The King’s speech stated that the Starmer-led Government “will seek to establish the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models.”

In the prime minister’s introduction, Starmer stated, “we will harness the power of artificial intelligence as we look to strengthen safety frameworks”.

Our key takeaways:

1. Regulation on developers of the most powerful AI models
   
   Labour’s overall approach to AI regulation remains unclear. However, the statement in the King’s speech indicates that Labour’s priority is to specifically regulate the developers of the most powerful artificial intelligence models. This accords with Labour’s manifesto pledge 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”. In contrast, the EU AI Act’s scope is far broader.

    

2. Placing “requirements” on developers
   
   Neither the speech itself nor the background briefing notes shed light on the proposed content of the proposed legislation.

   However, the new technology and science secretary Peter Kyle said in February 2024 that if Labour came to power, they would implement a statutory code under which AI companies would be legally required to share testing data with Government.  AI companies would have to inform the Government whether they were planning to develop AI systems over a certain level of capability and would need to conduct safety tests with independent oversight.

   This could form part of the proposed “requirements” on the major developers and it would align with Starmer’s comments today on strengthening safety frameworks.
   
   

3. Divergence from the previous Conservative Government’s approach to AI regulation
   
   The UK’s previous Sunak-led Government took an agile, non-binding approach to regulating AI. Whilst they did acknowledge in the AI Government Response paper that they would consider introducing binding measures on the developers of the most capable general purpose AI systems if certain circumstances arise, they had no plans in the short term to do so.

   However, here the new Labour Government is proposing to establish a set of binding measures on AI in its first parliamentary term.
   
   

4. No “AI Bill”
   
   Reports in the press prior to the King’s speech had indicated that Starmer would introduce an “AI Bill”. A multitude of bills were proposed in the speech but there is no reference to an AI “bill”. Perhaps they have not yet had a chance to flesh out the detail yet. This is not entirely surprising given how new the Government is and the competing priorities they are facing.