Government welcomes Lords AI report, vaunts industrial strategy

Beware emphasis on algorithm transparency, says government

However, in response to a Lords emphasis on an ethical need for technical transparency in AI systems, and an imperative for such in “safety-critical scenarios”, the government response came down more on the side of a non-regulatory approach.

“Government believes that transparency of algorithms is important, but for development of AI an overemphasis on transparency may be both a deterrent and, in some cases such as deep learning, prohibitively difficult. Such considerations need to be balanced against positive impacts use of AI brings,” it said.

The Lords report also registered unease at the power of big technology companies in the UK, such as Google and Facebook. “The increasing consolidation of power and influence by a select few risks damaging the continuation, and development, of the UK’s thriving home-grown AI startup sector,” the report said.

“We urge the government, and the Competition and Markets Authority [CMA], to review proactively the use and potential monopolisation of data by the big technology companies operating in the UK.”

In response, the government said: “The CMA is building a new technology team to strengthen its ability to keep pace with the use of algorithms, artificial intelligence and big data in business. The team will be made up of data scientists, computer experts and economists. A new position of chief data and digital insights officer has been created.”

As part of its response to a recommendation that university education in AI be bolstered, the government pointed to the introduction of an industrial master’s programme for AI. “We are kicking off work with the help of the British Computer Society, supported by the Alan Turing Institute, and in partnership with universities and major businesses such as Ocado, Amazon, Rolls-Royce, McKinsey’s Quantum Black, and others,” it said.

Meanwhile, the government has also separately announced a slew of senior AI appointments, including that of Google DeepMind’s co-founder and chief executive, Demis Hassabis, as an adviser to the newly minted Office for Artificial Intelligence.

Tabitha Goldstaub, co-founder of AI company CognitionX, has been appointed as the chair of the AI Council, described as a “new industry body”. Wendy Hall, from the University of Southampton has been confirmed as the skills champion for AI in the UK, while Goldstaub is the business champion.

Hall was the co-author of a government-sponsored, but independent, report, Growing the artificial intelligence industry in the UK, published in October 2017. It said the UK’s artificial intelligence sector would squander a historic lead unless government, industry and academia were to come together to give it cohesive support.