Lords debates development of advanced artificial intelligence

Debate

Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench), principal engineer for engineering and design company, Atkins, put forward the debate.

This is a general debate. During debates, members put their experience to good use to discuss current issues and draw the government's attention to concerns.    

Members speaking

Members speaking in the debate included:

• Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat), member of the Lords AI in Weapon Systems Committee
• Viscount Colville of Culross (Crossbench), senior producer for BBC History and former science journalist
• Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour), Shadow Spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology
• Lord Holmes of Richmond (Conservative), member of the Lords Science and Technology Committee.

Opening the debate, Lords Ravensdale said:

'AI is the most important technology of our generation. It will cause significant upheaval right across the economy, good and bad. We in Parliament need to be thinking about this area and talking about it a lot more than we are. It should be right at the top of our agenda.'

Lord Londesborough added:

'While AI looks set to have a transformative impact on our working practices, as the digital world has done, the big question remains over the net impact on economic growth. As with the digital economy, the risk is that AI may ultimately lead to a few dominant tech giants with huge market share, and further skew the distribution of wealth.'

Viscount Camrose (Conservative), Minister for AI and Intellectual Property, responded on behalf of the government:

'We are taking action to establish the right guardrails for AI. The AI regulation White Paper, published this March, set out our proportionate, outcomes-focused and adaptable regulatory framework...We will ensure that there are protections for the public without holding businesses back from using AI technology to deliver stronger economic growth.'

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