Data Policy Digest
Hello, and welcome to our nineteenth Data Policy Digest.
Will it bring you all the latest data and AI policy developments in the midst of the General Election campaign?
Before we go any further, two big online events to invite you to next Tuesday 25 June, courtesy of the Data and AI Civil Society Network:
- 4.30pm: Who should Labour listen to on AI, tech and public services? John Thornhill (FT) chairs Jeni Tennison (Connected by Data), James Plunkett (Nesta), Jeegar Kakkad (Tony Blair Institute) and Caroline Selman (Public Law Project)
- 8pm: Digital Rights in the age of AI - Hustings Timandra Harkness chairs Viscount Camrose (Conservative), Lord Clement-Jones (Lib Dem), Jack Lenox (Green) and hopefully someone from Labour (TBC - if you’re a Labour politician or PPC please do get in touch).
If there’s something we’ve missed, something you’re up to that you’d like us to include next time or you have any thoughts on how useful the Digest is or could be, please get in touch via gavin@connectedbydata.org. We’re on Twitter @ConnectedByData and @DataReform. You can also catch up on previous Digests.
To receive the next edition of the Data Policy Digest direct to your inbox sign up here.
Contents
What everyone else has been up to
Never mind the ballots
If you’ve not already bookmarked it/made it your homepage/pledged to vote for it on 4 July, we’ve set up a Data and AI Civil Society Network Election Hub. We’ll be updating with resources throughout the campaign - and you can add to it, too! (And if you’d like to find out more about the network, visit our dedicated website.)
Manifesto destiny
After last week’s manifestogeddon, a slightly quieter week. Nonetheless…
Reform’s ‘Our contract with you’ came out on Monday. Something for the first 100 days would be to ‘Promote Child Friendly App Restricted Smartphones: Social media is associated with eating disorders, anxiety, depression, suicide and the child mental health crisis’ and ‘launch an inquiry into social media harms’. Thereafter, Reform would review the Online Safety Bill (sic): ‘Social media giants that push baseless transgender ideology and divisive Critical Race theory should have no role in regulating free speech’. Other key pledges include a** **‘A British Bill of Rights’, including ‘Our data and privacy must be protected. Surveillance of the public must be limited and those monitoring us held to account’… ‘More Bobbies on the Beat’, partly through using ‘better technology and stop wasting time on paperwork’… and ‘Reform UK also opposes the Creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). We oppose a cashless society’.
The SNP’s manifesto, A Future Made in Scotland, came out yesterday (Wednesday)… BUILDING A FAIRER, GREENER ECONOMY (p21) they promised to ‘Prioritise research and investment in Artificial Intelligence to capitalise on the technological revolution and ensure its full potential is maximised in supporting our public services in a way that is open, ethical and transparent… CREATING A JUST AND HEALTHIER SCOTLAND (p25) ‘Protect people, particularly children, by ensuring the Online Safety Act comes into force on time. SNP MPs will press the UK Government to ensure tech firms cannot escape their responsibilities for the content on their platforms through full enforcement of the Act and prompt strengthening of these laws when required.’ (They’re obviously more interested in running the Scottish Government - their 2021 manifesto for reference.)
Elsewhere… like Reform, George Galloway’s Worker’s Party oppose a cashless society - they are not ‘Luddites’ but want AI and other technologies to be under ‘sufficient community control to ensure positive social and economic outcomes for the working class and the vulnerable’ and ‘institute a national debate’ on AI to ensure this… in previous industrial revolutions ‘the wealthy capitalist has seized opportunities by forced savings on the general population and then justified terrible effects on working people as ultimate progress. We cannot let this happen again’… they would also invest in technical skills for all workers, and review ‘all legislation and regulation to define only what is strictly harmful speech’, making it a criminal offence ‘to deny a political organisation or individual a platform’…
In Northern Ireland, the **Alliance **notes the ‘enormous potential’ of AI and social media but ‘significant dangers’ if not properly regulated… AI should ‘be harnessed in a way that benefits society as a whole, whilst protecting human rights’… specific pledges include ‘a Digital Bill of Rights to protect everyone’s rights online’, to ‘Incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law’, ‘Set up an independent advocacy body for children’s safety online’ and ‘Build on the measures introduced through the Online Safety Act to introduce verification requirements for social media accounts.’
As for civil society manifestos… there’s the PLATFORM WORKERS MANIFESTO: 10 priorities to fix a broken gig economy from Worker Info Exchange… while Defend Digital Me take a look at manifesto education pledges in their latest newsletter.
And continued reaction to last week’s whatever-the-collective-noun-is (answers-by-email-please) of manifestos… Party Manifestos: What do they mean for the tech sector? (techUK)… UK election manifesto tech takeaways, a personal reflection on transforming digital services, and more (Global Government Forum)… What the general election manifestos mean for the voluntary sector (NCVO)… Labour Party manifesto: What’s in it for tech? (Computing)… Manifesto tech takeaways: Labour plans National Data Library and standardised police IT (Public Technology)… General election 2024: Labour promises to boost digital infrastructure (Computer Weekly)… Digging into the Labour Party’s election manifesto datacentre planning reform pledge (Computer Weekly)… CILIP response to the Labour Party Manifesto (CILIP)… Manifesto tech takeaways: Conservatives pledge to double Whitehall digital and AI expertise (Public Technology)… General election 2024: The Green Party promises Digital Bill of Rights (Computer Weekly)… and Digital transformation - the missing government mission? (Jerry Fishenden in Computer Weekly).
Labour movement
Britain’s AI ambitions threaten its green belt. They don’t have to (Politico)… Labour considers largest Whitehall shake-up in decades (FT)… is Labour ‘open-minded’ on crypto? h/t to Politico for spotting that in Sifted… Labour party supports digital inclusion (Good Things Foundation).
News Tory
Away from the election, the Prime Minister attended the G7 in Italy. The final Communiqué includes closer cooperation on AI, something Sunak touched on in some remarks and in a UK government press release.
Everything else
A reminder of two events from the Data and AI Civil Society Network next Tuesday:
- At 4.30pm, Who should Labour listen to on AI, tech and public services? ( the thinktank/civil society one)
- At 8pm, Digital Rights in the age of AI - Hustings (the politician one)
Other hustings… last night was the Science, Innovation and Technology hustings (from the Campaign for Science and Engineering, the Foundation for Science and Technology, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society) - as well as the video, there were tweets and a write-up from Wonkhe… while NCVO also held General Election 2024: Voluntary sector hustings.
Other bits and pieces… OPT-OUT OF POLITICAL PARTIES PROCESSING YOUR DATA (ORG)… if you want to know who the parties are trying to target with their ads, check out Who Targets Me… America’s election year battle over who polices online disinformation (FT)… Facing Fakes (Centre for Policy Studies)… Reform (the thinktank, not the party) have some data/digital/transparency bits in A manifesto for delivery: 14 ideas for a better Whitehall… Capacity crunch: the biggest challenges facing the next government (Nesta/Sam Freedman)… Digital Bridge looks forward (if that is the right phrase) to the US elections (Politico)…
And… Bar chart wars: What to watch out for on leaflets telling you who can win your seat (BBC).
Data policy developments
AI got ‘rithm
No open letters this week so let’s start with OpenAI… OpenAI CEO says company could become for-profit corporation, The Information reports (Reuters)… Former head of NSA joins OpenAI board (The Verge)… OpenAI board members respond to a warning by former members (The Economist)… Gary Marcus responds to OpenAI board members responding to a warning by former members (The Economist)… Ilya Sutskever, formerly of OpenAI, is setting up a new company, Safe Superintelligence Inc (the FT, among others, has more)…
More on Silicon Valley/big tech… AI Images in Google Search Results Have Opened a Portal to Hell (404 Media)… How’s this for a bombshell – the US must make AI its next Manhattan Project (The Observer)… Apple’s AI Approach Is a Welcome Break From the Industry Arms Race (Vanity Fair)… “It’s the Wild West”: Why Silicon Valley’s AI Race Could Leave the Media in Tatters (Vanity Fair)… Microsoft Wanted to be Carbon Negative. Then It Went Big on AI (Bloomberg - a key takeaway)… Public sector workers could save four hours a week using AI, report finds (Microsoft)… Meta ‘pauses’ AI data collection in EU following Irish DPC request (Irish Independent)… The DPC’s Engagement with Meta on AI (Data Protection Commission)… Statement in response to Meta’s plans to train generative AI with user data (Information Commissioner’s Office)… Perplexity Is a Bullshit Machine (Wired)… Nvidia becomes world’s most valuable company (BBC)…
As for everything else… The EU’s #AI Act will be signed off on Thursday, but it will only be published in July due to a significant backlog (MLex)… How Much AI Regulation Is The Right Amount? (538)… AI Seoul Summit Stocktake: Reflections and Projections (Centre for Emerging Technology and Security at the Turing)… AI can’t fix what automation already broke (Brian Merchant)… Embedding the audience: Putting audiences at the heart of Generative AI (Ipsos, BBC)… The latest Civic AI Observatory newsletter looks at expectations and development of LLMs… Meet Nightshade—A Tool Empowering Artists to Fight Back Against AI (The Markup)… TOWARDS ROBUST TRAINING DATA TRANSPARENCY (Open Future)…
And… Photographer takes on the machines in AI competition – and wins (The Guardian)… McDonald’s ends AI drive-thru trial after order mishaps (Sky News).
Everything else
DSIT up and take notice Government rolls out real-time big-data tool to ‘map global supply chains and proactively mitigate risks’ (Public Technology)… UK education department awards contract uplift to Horizon scandal-plagued Fujitsu (The Register)… GOV.UK rolls out Google AI-powered semantic search (Public Technology)…
Bills, bills, bills Online Safety, naturally… I’m an expert on adolescence: here’s why a smartphone ban isn’t the answer, and what we should do instead (The Guardian)… Heather Burns notes some Ofcom comments on age verification…
Parly-vous data? Parliament will meet after the election on 9 July, when MPs will be sworn in and the speaker elected. The state opening and King’s Speech - which will outline the government’s legislative agenda - will take place on 17 July.
In brief
- NHS cyberattack: Urgent call for blood donors as reports warn of ‘many months’ to recover (Public Technology)… Don’t blame us for people suffering - London hospital hackers (BBC)
- NHS ‘technological foundations’ are in place for revolution, says chief exec (Public Technology)… Promising algorithms to perilous applications: a systematic review of risk stratification tools for predicting healthcare utilisation (BMJ Health and Care Informatics)
- Post Office accidentally leaks sub-postmaster data (BBC)
- New EU rules make high-value datasets available to fuel artificial intelligence and data-driven innovation (European Commission)… Apple set to be first Big Tech group to face charges under EU digital law (ArsTechnica)
- Centre for Police Productivity seeks leader to drive forces’ use of tech and data (Public Technology)
- Amazon-Powered AI Cameras Used to Detect Emotions of Unwitting UK Train Passengers (Wired)… Network Rail ‘secretly used AI to read passengers’ emotions’ (The Times)… The irresistible rise of Automated Facial Recognition Technology (Institute of Welsh Affairs)
- FTC Takes Action Against Adobe and Executives for Hiding Fees, Preventing Consumers from Easily Cancelling Software Subscriptions (Federal Trade Commission)
- New Branding, Same Scanning: “Upload Moderation” Undermines End-to-End Encryption (Signal)
- Dear next government, there is one way to rebuild trust… and it already exists (Kevin Keith, chair of the UK Open Government Network, for Civil Service World)
What we’ve been up to
- I spoke to DSIT’s Public Attitudes to Data and AI Network about our new project, Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects, and particularly our plans for a community of practice. We’d love you to help us shape those: this is a survey if you work in the public sector - this is the one if you’re somewhere else.
- Tim reflected on what makes a campaign about data distinct in his weeknotes
- On 10 September, we have a Connected Conversation on How can we ensure meaningful community and public participation in the governance and implementation of the EU’s AI Act?
What everyone else has been up to
- The ODI published some Reflections on the AI Fringe
- medConfidential summarised the last parliament: All Governments end: the 2024 End of Parliament Smörgåsbord
- Understanding Patient Data have a new blogpost: Collaborating well with patients when developing healthcare AI
- And… congratulations to IFOW’s Anna Thomas, who was among the recipients of the King’s Birthday Honours
Events
- 20 June: Virtual Launch: A Manifesto to Fix the Digital Divide (Good Things Foundation)
- 25 June: Who should Labour listen to on AI, tech and public services? and Digital Rights in the age of AI - Hustings (Data and AI Civil Society Network)
- 25 June: General Election and the Impact of New Government Policies on Public Sector Technology (GovNet)
- 25 June: PD Sessions: Town Hall 2030: local government for the digital era (Public Digital)
- 26 June: TxP x UK Day One Summer Drinks
- 27 June: Responsible Tech London: A Better Tech Future for Youth (All Tech is Human)
- 27 June: Digital Futures For Good - General Election Special (Good Things Foundation)
- 27 June: Launch of the Citizens’ White Paper (Demos and Involve, Collaborative Democracy Network)
- 1-7 July: London Data Week (including me presenting episode 4 of The Data Game as part of the ODI’s Data Time TV)
- 9-11 July: Data for Policy 2024 conference
- 16 July: Now the Work Begins: Lessons in a New Kind of Democracy with Audrey Tang (Demos)
- 16 July: Civic AI Unconference
Good reads
- ‘Hackers leaked intimate photos after my laptop was stolen’ (BBC)
- The likeless future of social media (Digital Frontier)
- ‘Junk inferences’ by data brokers are a problem for consumers and the industry itself (The Record)
- Why social media wants ‘authentic’ politicians (Jamie Bartlett)
- Overview and key findings of the 2024 Digital News Report (Reuters Institute)
- The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled (Platformer)
- Sam Bankman-Fried funded a group with racist ties. FTX wants its $5m back (The Guardian)
- “the ultimate religion of our seemingly rational age” – Revisiting Mumford’s “megamachine” (LibrarianShipwreck)
And finally:
- Spreadsheet Superstars: An elite handful of analysts, actuaries, and accountants have mastered Excel, arguably the most important software in the business world. So what do they do in Vegas? They open a spreadsheet. (The Verge)
- On self-driving cars (via Sam Whyte)
- What happened when 20 comedians got AI to write their routines (MIT Technology Review)
- How to close a government on GOV.UK (via Peter Wells)