UK Government Committee Calls For Your Views on AI (…inc. Legal AI)

The UK Government’s Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence is calling for submissions from all interested individuals and organisations on the subject of the growth and impact of AI across all sectors of the economy, including legal AI.

The Select Committee has been appointed to consider the economic, ethical and social implications of advances in AI, and is now calling for evidence from those interested in these issues. The Committee will begin taking oral evidence in the autumn and will report back by 31 March 2018.

The deadline for submissions is 6 September 2017. You can send in your written submission here. Submissions will go toward helping the Committee form its recommendations to the UK Government and so, in that respect, is potentially an opportunity for legal AI experts and companies to help shape AI policy. The UK is a hotspot for legal AI development, making it doubly important that the industry give the Government its views.

This is especially important at the moment to ensure that AI, and legal AI applications in particular, are not faced with undue and badly framed regulation in the future that may well be well-intended, but that ends up harming the sector.

Lord Clement-Jones

Lord Clement-Jones, Chairman of the Committee and who is also a partner at global law firm, DLA Piper, said: ‘This inquiry comes at a time when artificial intelligence is increasingly seizing the attention of industry, policymakers and the general public. The Committee wants to use this inquiry to understand what opportunities exist for society in the development and use of artificial intelligence, as well as what risks there might be.’

We are looking to be pragmatic in our approach, and want to make sure our recommendations to Government and others will be practical and sensible. There are significant questions to address relevant to both the present and the future, and we want to help inform the answers to them. To do this, we need the help of the widest range of people and organisations.

‘If you are interested in artificial intelligence and any of its aspects, we want to hear from you. If you are interested in public policy, we want to hear from you. If you are interested in any of the issues raised by our call for evidence, we want to hear from you,’ he concluded.

The focus of the Committee’s inquiry will include:

  • The current state of artificial intelligence.
  • The pace of technological change and the development of artificial intelligence
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on society
  • The public perception of artificial intelligence
  • The sectors most, and least likely, to benefit from artificial intelligence
  • The data-based monopolies of some large corporations
  • The ethical implications of artificial intelligence
  • The role of the Government and
  • The work of other countries or international organisations. (…that sounds like a call out to all the legal AI people around the planet to join in…)

If there are any questions about the call for evidence, how to submit evidence, or the deadline, please contact the staff of the Committee at hlaiadhoc@parliament.uk.