MPs and peers call for new law to curb AI’s risk to human rights and privacy

A cross-party panel of MPs has urged the creation of a new artificial intelligence ( AI ) Bill “to address the scale and seriousness of threats posed to human rights ” arising from the technology.

In a report released on Monday, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) detailed a range of risks that current legal and regulatory structures “are ill-equipped to prevent or respond to”.

According to the committee, existing UK legislation covering AI targets system users, rather than developers, leaving oversight bodies without the necessary powers to test and evaluate tools prior to public rollout.

The report also warned that the technology poses a risk to personal privacy and highlighted the fundamental right of people to “seek effective remedy against decisions made against them”.

Labour MP Alex Sobel , who is chair of the JCHR, said that AI “is moving with such speed and complexity that its impact is hard to accurately predict”.

He went on: “What is clear is that at present we are unprepared to deal with its consequences however potentially dire they may be.

“Nowhere in the world, including the UK, has a current legislative and regulatory approach to AI that is fit for purpose.

“New legislation is needed to establish a comprehensive set of protections that deal with the entire AI supply chain and its lifecycle.

“A single AI regulator should be established to set policy, monitor performance and with the teeth to ensure enforcement.”

Mr Sobel said that the potential benefits of AI are what makes it “important to ensure that regulation is proportionate and targets the areas of AI development and usage that pose the greatest risks”.

According to the committee, a new AI Bill should take a risk-based approach to addressing AI harms, establish a regulatory regime that mandates more demanding obligations for higher risk AI systems and models, and outright prohibit some uses of AI which are incompatible with human rights.

The JCHR also called for mandatory transparency requirements across all levels of the technology’s lifecycle and the establishment of an independent AI oversight body to monitor AI harms and risks, with strong powers to hold AI providers to account.

“Fundamentally, this is about making sure that you, as an individual, know when AI is being used in the decisions that affect you,” Mr Sobel said.

“We also want to make sure that if something does go wrong then avenues of redress will be available.