The UK takes the temperature of AI opportunities, risks and governance

The UK’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) has published a “CDEI AI Barometer”, examining “the most pressing opportunities, risks, and governance challenges associated with artificial intelligence (AI) and data use in the UK”.

The report analyses responses from 120 panellists and focusses on five sectors: criminal justice, financial services, health & social care, digital & social media and energy & utilities. Concerns widespread across these sectors were bias, lack of explainability and collecting meaningful consent. The report gives more granular analysis of concerns by sector, such as data monopolies, consumer disempowerment and cyberattacks in financial services and health inequalities and professional distrust in health & social care.

The report also highlights the barriers presented by regulatory confusion and “market disincentives” (such as loss of revenue to social media platforms for curtailing misinformation). It calls for close attention to data quality and availability, coordinated policy and practice and tackling the lack of transparency of AI.