Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that all regions of the United Kingdom will benefit from their proposed fast tracking of AI, given the different regulatory regimes in different parts of the UK.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We have set out in the Action Plan, which was developed by Matt Clifford, our intention to deliver growth across the UK, working with local stakeholders to devise strategies suited to the UK’s regions. We are committed to working in partnership with regional and local authorities on AI Growth Zones. We are already working with devolved administrations and local authorities across the UK, and will continue to do so, to ensure all parts of the UK benefit from the investment in critical AI infrastructure.
Most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use through our existing expert regulators. In response to the Plan, the government will support regulators evaluate their AI capabilities and understand how these can be strengthened. It will also encourage pro-innovation approaches by regulators, with the new Regulatory Innovation Office playing an important role.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect (1) children, and (2) vulnerable adults, from online encouragement to pursue behaviours that may lead to eating disorders.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Under the Online Safety Bill, companies which run websites which are likely to be accessed by children will need to take steps to prevent their child users from encountering self-harm and eating disorder content. All in-scope services will also need to address any other content (“non-designated content”) which risks causing significant harm to an appreciable number of children.
The largest services will also need to enforce their own terms and conditions, which often prohibit such content, and offer all adult users tools to give them greater control over the content they see. These tools will apply to content which encourages, promotes, or provides instructions for an eating disorder or behaviours associated therewith, and will reduce the likelihood that users who do not wish to encounter this content will do so.
The Government has also committed to introduce a new communications offence of intentionally encouraging or assisting serious self-harm, including eating disorders, where it meets the criminal threshold. Once introduced, companies will need to treat this content as illegal under the framework of the Bill, taking steps to remove this content once they become aware of it.