Artificial Intelligence: Legislation

Lord Clement-Jones Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I am sorry that I disappoint the noble Lord with his summer reading list. I am happy to meet him to give him some other recommendations of good books.

As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe that most AI systems should be regulated by the existing regulators. They are the experts. They need the AI skills to be able to do it. The Government are working with regulators to drive collaboration and alignment across the regulatory domains through, for example, the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum’s AI and digital advisory hub and the Regulatory Innovation Office, which is working with DRCF to collaborate on the support of the development of tools to help businesses and investors better navigate digital regulations.

We recognise the point the noble Lord has raised, which is that there are some aspects of AI that need to be looked at across AI generally. That is why we are undertaking consultation on legislation, and why we have ongoing work with all the departments around the impact on jobs that he described.

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, as long ago as February, the Minister’s Secretary of State said:

“AI is a powerful tool and powerful tools can be misused. State-sponsored hackers are using AI to write malicious code and identify system vulnerabilities, increasing the sophistication and efficiency of their attacks. Criminals are using AI deepfakes to assist in fraud, breaching security by impersonating officials”.


He went on to say:

“These aren’t distant possibilities. They are real, tangible harms, happening right now”.


If that is the case, why are the Government not taking a much more urgent approach to the introduction of regulation? I declare an interest as an adviser to DLA Piper on AI policy and regulation.

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I agree that this is an urgent issue, and it is changing day by day. The urgency is reflected in the work that has already taken place through the Online Safety Act, the Data (Use and Access) Act and, of course, the Crime and Policing Bill. But the need to get the legislation right for a more widespread AI Bill is important and has to be taken with due consideration. It would be very wrong to try to rush this. A consultation that brings in all the relevant parties will be launched, and that will be the time when we can make sure that we get this absolutely right.