Arabic version: لجنة برلمانية تدعو إلى قانون لحقوق الإنسان في مجال الذكاء الاصطناعي

According to BBC News, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has called for a new law to address human rights risks posed by artificial intelligence, arguing that existing legislation is not equipped to deal with them.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) said in a report that an AI bill was needed to address the “scale and seriousness” of the threats. Labour MP and committee chair Alex Sobel said that no country, including the UK, has a legislative and regulatory approach to AI that is fit for purpose.

The committee said the current framework is fragmented and difficult to navigate, leaving gaps in protection. It advocated a single, independent AI oversight body established on a statutory basis, alongside a regulatory regime that classifies AI systems by risk and imposes stronger duties on higher-risk systems and models.

The report said obligations should apply throughout the AI lifecycle, including to those designing, amending and using systems. It also said some uses should be prohibited because they are incompatible with human rights, identifying subliminal techniques and inappropriate profiling or biometric-data use as potential areas for action.

The JCHR cited AI-generated sexualised images of women and girls, as well as facial scanning without consent, as examples of human rights abuses. It also noted concerns that systems trained on internet-scraped datasets can reproduce racist, sexist and other undesirable material, while AI can be used to create and spread misinformation.

A government spokesperson said AI is advancing at an extraordinary pace, creating opportunities as well as risks. They said the UK was leading global work to test and understand AI through its security institute, to help develop standards and safeguards to keep people safe.