Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that public bodies deploying artificial intelligence and autonomous technologies in public services retain clearly defined human responsibility for explaining decisions made using those technologies and providing mechanisms for those decisions to be challenged and, where appropriate, reversed.

The Government recognises that the safe, reliable and accountable use of artificial intelligence is important to maintaining public trust in public services.

Departments deploying AI systems are expected to consider risks and impacts throughout the system lifecycle, including during design, development, deployment and operation. This includes compliance with safety, transparency, accountability, data protection rules and regulations.

The Government has published guidance to support this, including the Data and AI Ethics Framework, and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard, which support transparency, accountability and governance in the use of AI across the public sector.