UK Government pilots new AI regulation and innovation scheme

The pilot scheme will work by giving AI and digital innovators access to joined-up informal advice, making it easier for them to comply with different regulatory regimes which govern the development and deployment of AI models. This creates a vital point of contact which helps them easily navigate the UK’s regulatory landscape. 

The AI and Digital Hub is delivered by the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF), a group of key regulators which includes the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and Ofcom.

AI innovations are already unlocking ground-breaking advances in areas such as healthcare and drug discovery, with the technology also delivering new tools to help tackle climate change and slash carbon emissions. The Hub will now help to push forward further innovations in a range of other sectors, which could include areas such as financial services and online services with a consumer focus.

At its heart the DRCF AI and Digital Hub is geared towards making it easier for businesses to get the help they need, bringing together four key regulators who are involved in the oversight of AI. It means that they will then be able to take their new innovations to market responsibly and more quickly, which will in turn help to grow the economy.

This Hub will play an important role in supporting businesses to navigate regulations, so they can spend more time developing cutting-edge new products.

The Hub will also give regulators the opportunity to gain first-hand insights and feedback from innovators, helping them to refine their regulatory regimes for AI models which will strengthen the UK’s overall regulatory approach. In the long term, the pilot scheme’s findings could also help to inform new guidance from regulators.

The Hub, which is a multi-agency advice service and delivers on the Vallance review recommendation to establish an AI Regulation Sandbox, will invite applications from a range of innovators from across the economy. The service will be demand-led, meaning that a number of different sectors will be able to benefit, potentially in areas such as healthcare, financial services, energy, education, and beyond.

In February, the UK committed to driving forward its pro-innovation regulatory approach to AI in its response to the AI Regulation White Paper consultation. The government used its response to set out its broader plans to boost regulator expertise as part of a £100 million package which also includes support to advance AI innovation through nine new research hubs.

The pilot scheme announced today deepens the UK’s commitment to a pro-innovation regulatory plan for AI, bringing the country's expert regulators and the UK’s growing AI sector together to ensure innovation remains at the heart of its approach.

It will run for 12 months, with a decision on its potential long-term future expected in 2025.

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Michelle Donelan said: “AI innovations are already transforming how we tackle and diagnose diseases like cancer, improving our public services, and ramping up productivity. It is the defining technology of our generation.

“Through the AI and Digital Hub, we can bring groundbreaking innovators together with our expert regulators to streamline the process of harnessing the technology’s incredible potential.

“Our regulatory approach to AI places innovation at its heart, and this pilot scheme will play a vital role in helping us to refine that approach both now and in the years to come.”