Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their announcement on 14 June pledging £31 million to create a UK and international research and innovation ecosystem for responsible and trustworthy AI, what progress they have made in this area.

£31M is being invested into ‘RAI UK’ (Responsible AI UK), a consortium that is conducting and funding research into responsible AI, which launched in June of this year. RAI UK’s partners include the University of Southampton, University College London, King’s College London and the University of Cambridge and a range of government agencies, multilateral organisations and technology companies.

Their focus areas include: creating a responsible AI ecosystem; consolidating activities of a diverse set of organisations; funding research and innovation including tackling fundamental challenges; linking established research teams and accelerating existing research; developing ‘Responsible AI Skills’—cross-disciplinary skills beyond the technical; and policy and public engagement aspirations, including conducting public attitudes and expert surveys into AI risk.

Since their launch, RAI UK has awarded £1.5m to accelerate the impact of existing responsible AI research and has announced £1m of funding to develop international partnerships with world-leading organisations.