UK sets out plans for AI assurance leadership

The government has unveiled its Trusted third parties AI assurance roadmap as it attempts to encourage investment in UK artificial intelligence (AI), covering professional certification and verification of AI quality processes.

Labour wants AI investors and regulators to go further and faster to deliver growth for the UK’s AI sector as part of the government’s modern industrial strategy.

In a speech at Mansion House, technology secretary Peter Kyle called on industry to step up and match the UK government’s ambition when it comes to AI. “Countries can only prosper if they get the big calls right, if they decide to go beyond the expected and embrace the future, to innovate not imitate – refusing to be constrained by the problems of today by taking up the challenges of tomorrow,” he said. “In these uncertain times, I am certain that’s what it takes to get a global competitive edge.

“We want you to keep investing here, keep building here – list here, scale here. If you invest in Britain, you’ll share in that competitive edge.”

In the policy paper, Feryal Clark, parliamentary under-secretary of state for AI and digital government, discussed the UK’s opportunity to become a leader in AI assurance.

To capitalise on the opportunities that AI presents and drive adoption, she said: “We must ensure it is developed and deployed responsibly, working as intended. As a means of demonstrating the trustworthiness of AI systems, AI assurance has a vital role to play in building confidence in AI systems, ensuring firms can confidently invest in new products and services, and helping to drive innovation and economic growth.

“We believe the UK has a unique opportunity to be a world leader in AI assurance services, building on its strengths in both the professional services and technology sectors.”

The roadmap lays out plans to set up an AI assurance consortium, which will be tasked with developing the building blocks to support future professionalisation, including developing a voluntary professional code of ethics for AI assurance.

It discusses some of the responsibilities of the consortium, including the development of a comprehensive skills and competencies framework for AI assurance.

The roadmap also recognises that new types of testing and evaluation methods, tools, and services will be required to assure AI systems, which will involve feedback from diverse experts, including AI developers.

In terms of professionalism and quality control, the policy document discusses the opportunity to offer government-backed professionalisation, which could give aspiring professionals confidence that associated qualifications and training programmes are high-quality and offer a meaningful path into the assurance profession.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “This country has huge potential, but our economy has been stuck on pause for too long. By giving companies the right environment to innovate, grow and create jobs we are changing that, delivering economic growth to put more money in working people’s pockets.”