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On 18 June the UK’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) launched its AI Barometer.

This is a system-wide view of how AI and data is being used in five key sectors; Criminal Justice, Financial Services, Health & Social Care, Digital & Social Media and Energy & Utilities. The AI Barometer identifies a number of wider key areas where AI also has huge potential to address key challenges being faced by society. These include operating an efficient green energy grid, understanding the impact of automated services on vulnerable people and tackling misinformation. Its aim is to identify where there are “pressing opportunities” for use of data and AI as well as challenges where the CDEI can develop further work and develop advice to UK government on “policy priorities”.  

At the launch of the AI Barometer, the CDEI stated that a strong message of the report is to highlight the real opportunities for the application of data and AI use to tackle issues being faced across society today. However, the Barometer discusses how not all these opportunities are equal and recognises that some opportunities will be easier or harder to achieve. It also explores the fact that the hardest opportunities to achieve could be the ones where the highest potential benefits to society may be found.  The CDEI stated that an intention of the Barometer is to highlight a sense of “urgency” about the need to identify the most pressing, and most difficult, barriers and issues that need to be addressed to achieving the full potential of data and AI use.

The Barometer also outlines, and ranks (by level of impact) the risks that need to be addressed to achieve these opportunities. It calls for a “coordinated national response” to tackle risks that may stand in the way of the UK realising the benefits of data and AI use going forward. The Barometer also addresses the impact of COVID- 19 and highlights the use cases where data and AI driven technologies have been used around the world to respond to the pandemic. It highlights that the CDEI is undertaking further research to consider these use cases to consider how to ensure “what it would take to ensure they are developed and deployed to the highest ethical standards”.

As well as exploring the opportunities greater data and AI use offers the UK, the Barometer also highlights the barriers to the “ethical use of AI and data”. It outlines in detail barriers that exist around Data, Knowledge, Workforce, Market, Governance and Trust. A key barrier to ethical AI the Barometer highlights specifically is the “need for good governance”. While recognising that data governance is “still maturing” and the introduction of GDPR and the UK Data Protection Act has “strengthen” data governance, the report highlights concern around a lack of clarity as to how rules should be “interpreted” in specific contexts and how this may be holding back data use.

Going forward the CDEI are looking to work collaboratively with the wider AI community to consider further the issues raised in the AI Barometer and address identified challenges to ensure the benefits of data and AI use can be felt across society and the economy. The CDEI is also looking at how it can expand the Barometer to cover more sectors.

The AI Barometer is a welcomed, detailed and timely piece of work for which the CDEI should be applauded. It brings together in one place many of the key issues and topics being discussion in the AI, data and digital ethics debate right now as well as starts to explore the ethical impact of the acceleration of digital adoption and take-up seen in the pandemic. The good news is the UK has an established and mature digital ethics community, made up of academia, civil society, policy makers and industry, that stands ready to help work through the issues raised by the AI Barometer. techUK welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the development of the AI Barometer and looks forward to continuing to work with the CDEI on this important work and its mission going forward.

If you would like to understand more about techUK’s work in this area please get in touch.