Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to establish standardised testing frameworks for identifying bias in AI datasets; and whether she will consider introducing requirements for the quality of databases used to train artificial intelligence systems.

AI is already regulated in the UK. A range of existing rules already apply to AI systems, such as data protection, competition, equality legislation and sectoral regulation. The government is committed to supporting regulators to promote the responsible use of AI in their sectors, including identifying and addressing bias.

To help tackle this issue, we ran the Fairness Innovation Challenge (FIC) with Innovate UK, the Equality and Human Rights Council (EHRC), and the ICO. FIC supported the development of novel of solutions to address bias and discrimination in AI systems and supported the EHRC and ICO to shape their own broader regulatory guidance.

The government is committed to ensuring that the UK is prepared for the changes AI will bring.