Key AI Policy Imperatives | Danucore AI

"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done. This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only a shadow of what is going to be"

Alan Turing

Father of Artificial Intelligence - 1949 & 1950

The United Kingdom is the rightful birthplace to AI, and as such is uniquely positioned to take a leading global role at this formative but critical juncture in AI history. The exponentially increasing rate of adoption of AI in all sectors and across all aspects of life, both in UK and globally, coupled with an accelerated pace of optimisation, means focussed effort and action is required with priority and pace if this is to be achieved. AI has a staggering opportunity to be societally disruptive, and Government must be ready for both the opportunities and challenges of what is going to be. Alignment of wider Government policy, the development of UK-centric, independent AI-infrastructure, whole-energy-life-cycle consideration and the adoption of humane approaches to AI design, coupled with forward-thinking globally-connected collaboration and partnerships are vital.

To enable this, we consider below three key areas of AI policy in respect of the development of a UK-AI strategy and policy framework:

UK- AI – making the UK a connected global AI leader whilst retaining ‘AI-sovereignty’ and reducing foreign dependence;
Ethical Energy – positively using AI as a means of accelerating Net-Zero and the ethical application of energy at all life-cycle stages;
Humane AI – shifting perspectives from responsive, protectionist approaches and regulation to one of proactive kindness and humanistic approaches by design.

1. UK-AI

a. Infrastructure – encourage robust UK-owned infrastructure network, including distributed data-centres and research/investment zones, with ever-reducing reliance on foreign dependency. Stated aim to significantly reduce artificial foreign investment that inadvertently leads to a foreign capital flight and to positively protect UK job displacement and support true, localised UK economic activity;

b. People – AI has already created an unprecedented, highly competitive and very liquid global labour market. In addition to the obvious accelerated UK-focussed education and upskilling requirement, prioritised access to this highly competitive global workforce remains vital. Align immigration policy and ensure continuation of fast-track visa access for critical global AI talent as a minimum;

c. Foundational AI Models – UK-created and owned foundational models should be encouraged. Clear aims to balance global disparity, mitigate bias and reduce a largely USA-centric dominance presently. UK models should seek to truly reflect UK societal diversity.

2. Ethical Energy

a. Global ‘Digital Energy’ leadership – AI creates an unprecedented opportunity for a unique, global ‘digital energy exchange’. The UK should seek a leading global position. Exchanging and balancing energy consumption for AI computational power to balance global energy demand, reduce surge pricing and lessen AI domestic energy price fluctuations that might have wider detrimental energy supply and social consequences;

b. Holistic Energy – Deeper than encouraging just green energy usage, an holistic approach to AI-energy expansion should seek to encourage holistic energy approaches, accelerate ‘Net-Zero’ and set new global benchmarks. This includes encouragement for green AI infrastructure, hardware re-cycling/responsible decommissioning and, crucially, heat-exchange innovation, where surplus heat-capture and repurposing is incentivised, reducing overall AI-energy lifecycle waste and inefficiency. UK innovations in heat exchange and datacentre water-cooling need focus and acceleration;

c. Smart Grid – AI has a critical role in the development of a smart UK energy grid optimised to balance load surges and reduce peak drains, with encouragement for intelligent AI-energy lifecycle usage and planning. Consider innovation in energy tax policy to reflect the dynamic nature of the market, with global innovations such as ‘energy-surge-taxing’ considered to balance power drains and incentivise smart-energy time-balancing. AI can have a very positive impact on peak grid pricing optimisation and this should be leveraged.

3. Humane AI

a. ‘Humane’ not just ‘safe’ – Encourage a UK AI industry paradigm shift from ‘safe’ deployments designed to simply reduce and mitigate harm, to AI infrastructure and applications seeking to actively promote positivity, kindness and a redoubling of humanity. Think ‘human-first AI’ in all strategy formation and policy consideration.

b. A force for good and positivity – If applied appropriately, AI presents an unprecedented opportunity to be a positive, disruptive and highly effective tool in the context of local communities and wider society. Consideration should be given properly to non-commercial AI applications, especially those focussed on playing a positively disruptive role amongst local communities and in wider society, and those that actively bring and encourage neighbourhood and social benefits and efficiencies. It is vital the entirety of AI isn’t just delegated to the commercial sector or simply left to ‘big tech’; Government must address ways to leverage AI for the wider good of communities and society, both local and nationally, and as a foundation to this, it is suggested that all AI policies must initially be centred on shared human values, such as:

1. Truthfulness

2. Justice

3. Trust

4. Accessibility

5. Transparency

6. Accountability

c. De-centralise power concentration, trust and responsibility – AI has a propensity for rapid power and control concentration. Actively decentralise AI power, redistributing to localised ownership and engagement, ensuring against single-entity control and oversight and moving to a distributed power and regulatory model. Consider UK’s global role in reducing single-source or single-actor AI-concentration/ownership/control. In addition, consultations and AI design should consider broader social, faith and civic inclusivity as a means of decentralising concentration and encouraging inclusivity;

d. Ethical clarity – Whilst controlling illegal AI activity will be key and must be strengthened, legislating and enforcing against unethical AI usage will also be vital. This could have far-reaching and devastating social consequences if left unchecked. Considerations to mitigate legal extortion must be key. The power of AI to illicitly and unethically extort via technically legal methods must be controlled and regulated against, and ethical clarity must be defined in law and strictly enforced. Further, public trust in AI is pivotal, and policies should seek to actively encourage public trust, such as identifying where AI technologies or interaction nodes are being deployed.

--ends