Last month, the prime minister laid out his plan to make London the AI capital of the world.

Speaking to the Evening Standard he said London “stands on the foothills of a productivity revolution, powered by AI,” but that innovation “can go further.”

There are already over 1,300 AI based companies registered in London – more than New York and Paris.

Sir Keir Starmer’s ambitions come in the same month as the introduction of the Private Members Bill in the Lords that seeks to regulate the use of AI systems.

The Government has previously insinuated it will lean towards a more interventionist approach as opposed to Rishi Sunak’s “wait-and-see” policy that did not legislate for AI specific legislation and was “not in a rush to regulate.”

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Clement-Jones has already been disappointed by the lack of procedural on goings.

Formerly the chair of the AI select committee, Clement-Jones has previously described the pace with which the government has moved when inputting AI regulation as “glacial.”

Clement-Jones’ new bill seems to be primarily concerned with clarifying the processes of black box AI, exposing how AI platforms make decisions and releasing it as public information.

Speaking to City News, Tamara Quinn, a senior AI and Data specialist at law firm Osbourne Clarke, says the root of the problem comes from the fact that “drafting workable legislation which strikes the right balance is not easy.”

It is difficult to use superficial words in such complex legislation: “what is meant by ‘frontier’ or ‘cutting edge’ AI models’ – how is this to be defined?”

The centre of the issue seems to be, as she says, that  “the world of AI moves too swiftly.” Experts say it is difficult, as error-making, flawed human beings, for our legal system to keep up with our computerised counterparts

Female entrepreneur and CEO E-J Roodt emphasised the benefits of AI, particularly as it is the software that is crucial to her AI based app Epowar. Epowar uses AI software to detect when users are under-attack.

Asked whether she thinks we should be wary of Artificial Intelligence software, she said we need to “keep an open mind.”

Roodt says the software is fundamental to securing convictions in an area where there exists a shocking low conversion rate. She cites the 2022 Rape Crisis figure of only 1,378 convictions for reported rape.

The app is currently being used by 15,000 people. If fewer than 10% of users (1500 people) were attacked in one year, the quantity of  evidence that the app would automatically start recording could convict the same amount as yearly UK charges.

Roodt claims that Epowar’s pioneering use of AI technology could change the face of a very human, real world problem, with the potential to protect victims.

You can download the Epowar app here.

Ahead of the second reading of Lord Clement-Jones’ regulatory AI-specific bill and the government’s bid to legalise the proposed Data Use and Access bill, the regulation of AI will undoubtedly be a complicated, but necessary, process.

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