CIO Essentials: Here we are again

Regulation? Who needs it

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it," as the saying goes.

That's exactly the mistake the UK government made this week with its 'agile' approach to AI regulation.

In a blinding flash of neoliberalism, the government has decided that AI - a technology that threatens 300 million full-time jobs worldwide - doesn't really need dedicated regulation. Instead, existing bodies like the ICO and CMA will take on oversight for their respective areas.

The government has also said, effectively, that it's too difficult to allocate responsibility to specific supply chain actors (i.e. if an AI goes rogue, is it the fault of the company using it or the one that developed it?), and has decided to simply not bother at this stage.

Hooray for the small state approach.

It really seems like we've been here before. Loose regulation caused the Global Financial Crisis. Brexit went horribly wrong, in part, because there was no certainty about its definition. UK rivers and beaches are filling up with sewage because Ofwat is a paper tiger. And on the technical front, the lack of social media regulation has increased partisanship and deepened political divides around the world.

Again and again, we see catastrophes past and in the making that could have been avoided had governments stepped in early, rather than adopting a wait-and-see approach.

The UK approach has some upsides, certainly around agility (the government defines AI based on characteristics of adaptability and autonomy, rather than targeting specific technologies like LLMs). That should give it more flexibility and resilience than hand-picking what does and doesn't count as AI.

However, the lack of certainty is likely to make things harder for businesses. Some regulators will be under-resourced and lack any experience of AI, so could hold off making firm decisions. Others, with no clear guidance on how to implement regulation, will be too heavy-handed in their approach. And, of course, some firms may find themselves facing two or more regulatory regimes at once.

A central regulator would both have the specialist knowledge necessary to deal with the fast-paced world of AI, and offer a single, unified approach to regulation. Hopefully the government sees this - but I'm not holding my breath.

Also this week

We've launched a new static page on Computing where new tech starters, and anyone considering joining the industry, can find information on the most in-demand positions; what those roles actually involve; the skills needed to work in them; and their average starting salaries.

We're very proud to be supporting new entrants to the tech sector, and we're looking for any and all feedback we can use to improve the page. What additional info would be useful for you as someone just entering tech? How can we improve what we're doing? We're relying on you to let us know.

We'll be updating the page every quarter, so keep checking in to see how the market is changing.