‘Absolute tosh’ that Government is dragging its feet on AI safety, minister says

Science Secretary Michelle Donelan has claimed it is “absolute tosh” to say the Government is dragging its feet on artificial intelligence (AI) safeguards.

Ms Donelan said the UK is leading the world when it comes to AI safety but added the Government is not going to rush legislation.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Alex Davies-Jones accused ministers of prioritising “a man’s right to have banter, over a woman’s right to feel safe” when it comes to deepfakes.

Speaking in the Commons, Labour MP Chris Elmore raised concerns over ministers saying they would “not rush to regulate”, adding the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been clear in the “potential harms unregulated AI could generate”.

The Ogmore MP asked: “So why has the Government dragged its feet on safeguards for the most advanced AI models or is it simply that she’s waiting for the next Labour government to control the new AI models?”

Ms Donelan replied: “This is absolute tosh. We have led the world when it comes to AI safety, we have set up a long-term process in the AI safety summit and the next one will be in Seoul in just a few weeks, we have also set up the world’s first leading AI Safety Institute that is testing both pre and post-deployment.

“But we’ve also been really clear: we’re not going to rush to legislate. We’re going to grip the risks and better understand them rather than produce out-of-date legislation as a gimmick.”

Ms Donelan later declined to say which models the AI Safety Institute is testing as it is “highly commercially sensitive information”, adding: “Where risks are found we do expect relevant action to be taken and the responsibility of developers is to ensure their models are safe, but of course the Government is committed to holding them to account.”

MP for Pontypridd, Ms Davies-Jones called on the Government to take action on AI apps such as Nudify and ClothOff, which generate deepfake pornography.

She said: “Yesterday the Government finally backed Labour’s calls and announced they would be making the creation of deepfake porn an offence.

“But it is disappointing that the Government continue to adopt an intent-based approach, over one of consent in relation to these crimes.

“Why are ministers prioritising a man’s right to have banter, over a woman’s right to feel safe?

“And will the Government look at the regulation of the AI apps such as Nudify and ClothOff which are freely available, easy to use and exist only to humiliate and violate women?”

Ms Donelan replied: “We are in the process of making it illegal to create this content in the first place.”

Elsewhere, Conservative former minister Vicky Ford called for a dedicated child-safe phone to be created to protect children.

Ms Ford, MP for Chelmsford, said: “Given the increased concerns about children’s online safety, does she agree it is now time to go even further and introduce a child-safe phone, thus ensuring that at a minimum all phones intended for children are properly fitted with parental controls to stop children from accessing harmful content?”

Ms Donelan replied: “She does raise an important point regarding device-level controls and I can assure that I’m listening, not just to members of this House, but also to parents too.”