The DRCF officially launched its AI and Digital Hub, providing its answer to the familiar questions of how regulators can address the pace and breadth of emerging tech
The conference cheered the UK’s commitment to innovation while acknowledging the vast changes underway in tech markets
On 22 April 2024, techUK and the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) hosted a conference on Navigating the UK's Digital Regulation Landscape. The event, which brought together speakers from the DRCF’s four participating regulators – Ofcom, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – focused on future directions for tech regulation in the UK as well as efforts underway to collaborate internationally on regulating emerging technologies. Much of the discussion focused on how the UK could maintain its global leadership in attracting tech investment and promoting innovation while responding effectively to the regulatory challenges posed by new technologies, in particular those related to artificial intelligence (AI).
The pace and breadth of technological innovation still sit at the heart of debates on regulating tech markets
Picking up the now familiar refrain, panellists largely echoed the importance of maintaining the UK’s posture as a pro-innovation ecosystem. However, the speed at which emerging technologies are being developed and deployed as well as the broad, cross-sectoral implications of these technologies are requiring regulators to reconsider their approaches. Nikhil Rathi (CEO, FCA) appropriately opened the event by noting that in only twenty years, tech giants such as Apple and Microsoft have dethroned longtime industrial champions like General Electric and Pfizer as the largest companies in the US. This generational shift presents an opportunity for the UK economy but also a challenge for regulatory frameworks which need to keep pace. Stephen Almond (Executive Director for Regulatory Risk, ICO) shared that the ICO along with other DRCF members seek to achieve such a balance by emphasising regulatory certainty and strengthening coordination both among regulators and with industry and international leadership. Noting that the UK is now home to over 200 regulators, Christopher Hodges (Chair, Regulatory Horizon Council) also stressed the importance of creating “regulatory ecosystems” – the process for identifying harms and determining acceptable outcomes – through collaboration among different agencies. He was clear however in noting that he did not believe that a central regulatory authority or a “regulator of regulators” was the correct path to forcing that collaboration.
DRCF demonstrated its ability to leverage collaboration for innovation with the launch of the ‘AI and Digital Hub’
In the context of these challenges as well as the rapid advancement of AI technologies, members of the DRCF took the opportunity to highlight their ability to meet the moment through the launch of the ‘AI and Digital Hub’. Through the hub, firms can now seek informal and unified advice from all four DRCF member regulators on digital products and services they plan to bring to market, similar to regulatory sandboxes being developed in other jurisdictions. In addition to supporting better, more efficient interactions between regulators and innovators, Will Hayter (Executive Director for Digital Markets, CMA) noted that the inquiry service would also offer regulators new insights on industry movements and trends. The hub aligns well with the Government’s commitment to a principles-based approach to AI and its present focus on evaluating regulator capacity. As UK regulators are expected to make their strategic approaches to AI public by 30 April 2024, the Government is also preparing to launch a £10m fund to support regulatory capabilities related to AI and is encouraging the development of joint bids between agencies. Citing a trend of “lazy” comparisons between the EU’s AI Act and the UK’s perceived lack of action on AI, Neil Ross (Associate Director for Policy, techUK) offered a continued call to action for the Government and regulators to do better in communicating this extensive work underway already in the UK to prepare and implement frameworks around emerging technology.
