Writing in NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood and Paul Knight of Mills & Reeve examine calls for risk-based obligations, transparency requirements and an independent regulator. The Joint Committee on Human Rights’ proposals closely resemble the EU AI Act, raising questions about balancing protection with innovation.
Public appetite for oversight is strong: an Ada Lovelace Institute survey found 89% support an independent UK regulator, while 84% fear government will prioritise technology companies over the public interest.
A separate proposal to ban artificial superintelligence exposes the limits of domestic legislation where frontier models are developed abroad.
The authors favour a ‘middle course’ between competing regulatory approaches. Policymakers must identify the harms needing priority and decide whether new AI-specific rules, changes to existing law or better enforcement offer the most effective response to them.
