The King’s Speech delivered yesterday has confirmed Labour’s plans for cybersecurity, digital and data, with around 40 new tech bills confirmed.
The King’s Speech announced a new Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to expand regulation to cover more digital services and supply chains.
This will empower regulators to ensure cyber security measures and mandate increased incident reporting to improve the government’s response to cyber-attacks.
The King also announced a Digital Information and Smart Data Bill, which will enable new, innovative uses of data to help boost the economy.
Labour’s AI bill still not confirmed
Despite Labour’s manifesto outlining plans 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”, the King’s Speech stopped short of mentioning this.
The UK’s focus on the largest LLMs represents a reset of the previous government’s strategy, which favoured a self-regulatory approach.
However, the King’s Speech did confirm that the government “will seek to establish the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models.”
Commenting on missing AI regulation, Jennifer Belissent, Principal Data Strategist at Snowflake, said: “We cannot stop the development of AI because we know it will then go underground, but equally, we cannot have unregulated AI.
“It’s clear that we do not have answers up front and there is a level of risk. However, the fact that we are talking about it – that research into AI explainability continues – and that legislation is being drafted: these are all encouraging.”
Simon Morris, VP of Solution Consulting at ServiceNow, added, “As we enter an era where technology could amplify human beings’ potential to unprecedented levels, ensuring trust and responsibility within AI has never been more important.
“To deal with problems such as bias, and ensure AI delivers real value, the approach to AI needs to be human-centric.”
What can we expect from new technology regulation?
While Labour’s AI bill remains up in the air, the King’s Speech announced two bills: the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill and the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill.
The Digital Information and Smart Data Bill encourages the innovative use of data to boost the economy. This would include the creation of new digital verification services and systems allowing customer data to be shared with authorised third-party service providers.
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, meanwhile, aims to secure critical national infrastructure—particularly important given the recent attack on an NHS supplier, Synnovis, which resulted in the postponement of thousands of appointments and elective procedures.
Additionally, the speech confirmed that technology would underpin Labour’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill, energy plans, and industrial and employment thinking.
It added that the government will “pursue sustainable growth by encouraging investment in industry, skills and new technologies” and seek “new job opportunities that can come from leading the development of the technologies of the future.”
