How do Labour and the Tories compare on AI?

AI, it’s changing everything. From ChatGPT to Deepfakes, everything and anything is possible. So, how are the two main parties trying to tackle this growing issue?

Let’s start with the Tories, the party of government.

Following the publication of their National AI Strategy in 2021, the Tories have stuck fairly hard and fast to their desire to try and ensure existing regulators have oversight of AI. They have also tried to maintain their desire to make Britain a global leader in the regulation and development of AI. With Rishi Sunak’s upcoming AI conference connecting governments across the world with industry big wigs. 

There have also been several papers launched by the government looking into how the UK can become an AI superpower alongside how to ensure citizens avoid the pitfalls of a free for all. However, in real concrete terms, very little action has actually been taken by the government to ensure AI is used for the good of the country. As the recent debacle with Keir Starmer’s voice being used to generate fake news highlights. It seems like with much else, the Tories are content to let things drift and allow someone else to deal with the fallout.

Labour on the other hand seem desirous to take a far more active approach in dealing with AI. As early as June of this year, Keir Starmer was talking about ways that Labour would differentiate itself from the Tories. It seems that the party has now decided to take an active approach with solutions being proposed for problems that they have identified.

This is best demonstrated in the party’s recent briefing. Within the briefing, three key areas of concern are highlighted. The possibility of AI being misused through things such as facial recognition to target minorities, the possibility of AI being faulty and the possibility of AI changing societal structures without oversight.

 To address these concerns, Labour has three proposed solutions.

Firstly, they propose investing in greater internal government capacity to assess the impact of AI. Instead of outsourcing this need to external parties, they want either more funding and scope for tools such as the Government Digital Service (GDS), the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation or funding a new body. This new body could potentially be more flexible and be able to prioritise AI more cleanly.

Secondly, they want to reverse the trend of slashing money, by increasing funds for computational resources to researchers and civil society organisations. The argument being that this will enable the balance of power between big tech and the little man to be re-addressed. Enabling the little guy to be able to hold the big tech firms to account through more clearly understanding their processes and developmental stages.

Finally, Labour wants the existing Digital Markets Unit to be established on a statutory footing and funded properly. This, they believe will ensure that monopolies are not allowed to grow within the AI market alongside ensuring the government has the ability to be the ones setting the tone for requirements and standards. Rather than relying on companies willingly adhering to their own standards.

In summary it does seem that though the government trumpets their own policies quite loudly, they haven’t done much to tackle AI. Labour may be blowing smoke, but they seem to have easy and understandable policies toward AI. And that may well be all the difference.