Committee calls for bill to address AI threat to human rights

A group of cross-party MPs and peers have called for new legislation to tackle the human rights risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI), arguing that existing laws are inadequate. The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published a report urging for a dedicated AI bill to address the scale and seriousness of these threats.

No current legislative or regulatory approach to AI is deemed fit for purpose, according to Alex Sobel MP, chair of the committee. US AI company Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, recently proposed a plan encompassing global regulation, industry-wide regulation, and independent monitoring of AI models during their development. He emphasized the need to slow down the pace of development and urged leaders of rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk, to agree with his stance.

One major concern is AI's ability to display biases against certain groups if trained on internet-sourced datasets, which may contain racist, sexist, and other undesirable materials. AI could also be used to create and spread misinformation. The JCHR report highlights numerous abuses of human rights caused by AI, such as the creation of sexualized images of women and girls and the unauthorized scanning of people's faces.

They propose a single, independent AI oversight body established on a statutory basis. The committee argues that the current legal framework for AI is fragmented and difficult to navigate, leaving protection gaps. They suggest a regulatory regime classifying different risk levels, mandating more demanding obligations for higher-risk AI systems and models throughout the AI lifecycle, from design, amendment, and usage to ensuring all responsible parties in the supply chain are aware of their obligations.

Certain AI uses should be prohibited outright due to incompatibility with human rights, including subliminal techniques and inappropriate use of profiling or biometric data. Sobel emphasized that AI's rapid and complex development makes predicting its impact challenging. He stressed that, while AI holds the potential to transform lives for the better or worse, Britain is currently unprepared to deal with its consequences, regardless of their severity.

The committee comprises 12 members from both Houses of Parliament, including MPs and peers from the Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat parties. BBC News seeks comment from the government on the proposed AI bill.