Data Policy Digest

Gavin Freeguard

Gavin Freeguard

Hello, and welcome to our 22nd Data Policy Digest, bringing you all the latest data and AI policy developments.

Our 22nd edition, and first under a Labour government.

neil kinnock voice: a LABOUR government

Data and digital has been at the forefront of some of the new government’s first actions, from changing the machinery of government around data and AI, to several new bills on data, AI and tech policy. It could be a busy parliament… so it’s a good time to remind you of our Data and AI Civil Society Network if you’d like to join (we have some summer drinks coming up too).

All of this assumes you’re in a position to read this, of course, given the rather significant IT outage - a timely reminder of how dependent we’ve become on data and tech and those responsible for maintaining it…

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

Data policy developments

AI got ‘rithm

In brief

What we’ve been up to

What everyone else has been up to

Events

Good reads

Data policy developments

Something something new dawn, something something broken

It’s been a busy start for new Prime Minister Keir Starmer - as you might expect for someone taking over running a country. ‘A government of service’ was a consistent theme in both a message to the civil service, which underlined the importance of ‘a different way of working… of openness, of collaboration and transparency in everything we do’, and an article laying out plans to ‘stop the chaos, fix our foundations, and take the brakes off Britain by returning politics to serious government’.

So far, he’s appointed ministers - more on the most relevant below - and two PPSs, his link with the Parliamentary Labour Party (which also has a new chair).

The King’s Speech (not that one), delivered on Wednesday, laid out the government’s legislative plans - we’ve more on relevant Bills below.

The new PM has also been doing the rounds internationally: comments at a NATO summit mentioned ‘new cooperative projects on disinformation, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence’; there was plenty on the importance of rights at the European Political Community meeting; and AI came up in conversations with President Macron of France (‘They will embrace the opportunities presented by… responsible use of Artificial Intelligence’ - France hosts the next AI Summit next February, and see also their first call) and South Korea’s President Yoon (‘further collaboration’).

Parliament is still getting up to speed - again, see below for more - with Starmer’s first PMQs on Wednesday 24 July. And the Tories are still getting up to speed with being in Opposition - we await details of how their leadership contest will run.

DSIT up and take notice

It didn’t take the new government long to enact a rumoured machinery of government change: DSIT bolstered to better serve the British public through science and technology was the official release announcing that the Government Digital Service, Central Digital and Data Office and Incubator for AI would all be moving from the Cabinet Office to make DSIT a new ‘digital centre’ of government. (There was some quickly cleared-up confusion about whether the three units were moving wholesale - they are.) Secretary of State Peter Kyle took to the radio to explain more, and visited Whitechapel (home of GDS and CDDO) with Cabinet Office minister, Pat McFadden.

Will the changes make a difference? Whitehall watchers will wonder if a new-ish department, not part of the traditional centre - No 10, Cabinet Office and Treasury - will have the controls and clout to make things happen across government, and even sensible MoG (machinery of government) changes can be disruptive as they bed in. But it could better align efforts to improve data and digital both inside the public sector and more widely; the government is talking a good game about working with Cabinet Office, Treasury and other parts of government; Kyle is an ally of the PM; and there seems to be a clear political purpose - various statements of DSIT’s priorities emphasise better use of tech and digital to serve citizens.

For other reaction… Not bad for week one (Public Digital - founded by some of the original GDS team)… Five things I think about GDS, CDDO and i.AI moving into DSIT (Ben Welby - also ex-GDS)… Five questions that will define the success of GDS and CDDO’s DSIT move (Public Technology)… while we’re on GDS, GDS names Christine Bellamy as new chief executive (Public Technology)… and while we’re on moving machinery, Data protection policy should return to the Ministry of Justice (Chris Pounder).

Incidentally, if you wondered if the ‘seals of office’ are just metaphorical - they’re not.

There’s lots of advice for the new government… the UK Open Government Network coordinated a Joint Letter to the UK Prime Minister (which we signed), covered by the Observer and Civil Service World among others (open government was under CDDO so appears to have moved to DSIT)… BCS wrote an open letter to Kyle… and we also had Automating public services - a careful approach (Computer Weekly - read the full report)… Public sector design — time for a reset (Richard Pope)… Week one of a new government and it’s time to talk tech (Lord Holmes in Computer Weekly)… and Welcome minister, the next Horizon scandal is here in your department (Computer Weekly).

While we’re on DSIT… Kyle and health sec Wes Streeting discussed how to work together to ‘drive medical breakthroughs in Britain and across the world’… Government Office for Technology Transfer: progress made from 2023 to 2024… Nominet takes over management of gov.uk domain registry (Public Technology)… EXCL: Government seeks out ‘high-priority data-quality issues’ (Public Technology)…

The ICO has been busy, publishing its latest annual report… How we help police forces comply with FOIA - and what we do if they don’t (ICO)… ICO to investigate 23andMe data breach with Canadian counterpart (ICO)… as has the Office for Statistics Regulation, with a report on the state of the statistical system and findings and requirements for ONS to enhance their Admin-Based Population Estimates (ABPEs)…

And… ‘Not fit for purpose and seriously compromised’ – urgent calls for new government to rethink digital immigration plans (Public Technology)… Can AI really help fix a healthcare system in crisis? (The Guardian)… New report on consumer use and understanding of generative AI (DRCF)… ARIA has a couple of new calls for proposals out… Half a million words analysed by AI (Government Actuary’s Department)… HMRC concludes trials of ‘causal AI’ (Public Technology)… Local government digitalisation framework: Missions, principles and enablers (LGA).

Party people

Who’s in, who’s out, who’s shaking it all about? Well…

Peter Kyle is the new Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, the brief he had shadowed in opposition from last autumn. This Times profile from back then remains an essential read. He did some of the big early media rounds: on Peston, ID cards came up; on Sky, it was AI.

The Lord Vallance of Balham (Sir Patrick Vallance) was a surprise day one appointment as Minister for Science. You may remember him from such press conferences as ‘oh no, we all have to stay at home’ and ‘good god, how bad are those charts?’. If you need reminding, Wonkhe have an unofficial reintroduction, while Form did a recent interview. More recently, Vallance has been a strategic counsellor to the Tony Blair Institute, and back in March 2023 published a ‘pro-innovation regulation of technologies’ review on digital technologies, and an interim review on life sciences.

He’s already been busy, heading to the G7 Science and Technology Ministerial in Bologna (press release, ministerial declaration).

Details of ministerial briefs have just appeared. Vallance will be Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, with responsibilities including ARIA, UKRI, the Government Office to Technology Transfer, the new Regulatory Innovation Office and tech and innovation across the missions (as well as all things science and R&D).

Chris Bryant also moves from shadowing DSIT (and DCMS) to becoming a minister in DSIT (and DCMS). Bryant was shadow minister for data, and led for Labour on the report stage and third reading of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (he also spoke at the ODI’s manifesto launch back in March). His responsibilities as Minister of State for Data Protection and Telecoms include data protection (clue is in the name, including the new data bill), the ICO, BDUK, telecoms and other infrastructure, digital inclusion and… space.

Feryal Clark was another surprise, having been shadow minister for crime reduction in opposition. Previous frontbench roles included shadow minister for health, shadow minister for primary care and patient safety, and opposition whip - she was previously a councillor in Hackney, where she rose to be Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care, Leisure and Parks. She studied biomedical science, followed by a masters in bioinformatics - quite the health emphasis in the new DSIT team alongside Vallance.

Clark is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for AI and Digital Government, which also includes cybersecurity, digital ID and copyright and the Intellectual Property Office. That’s quite the brief.

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Maggie Jones) also moves from the opposition frontbench shadowing DSIT to a minister in the department (shared with the Department for Business and Trade). You may remember her from such parliamentary debates as ‘the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill’, ‘more debates on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill’, and ‘even more debates on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill’. She also did a lot around the Digital Markets Bill (now Act).

Jones is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Future Digital Economy and Online Safety, which (as well as online safety and disinformation) includes the Digital Markets Unit, skills, tech investment and diffusion, international policy, the Geospatial Commission and the National Data Library.

Pat McFadden is the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and minister for the Cabinet Office, responsible for how government operates. Although Cabinet Office has lost GDS, CDDO and iAI to DSIT, expect him to still play a role. Note one of his junior ministers is newly-elected Georgia Gould, former leader of Camden Council who have a good story to tell on data.

Others The Treasury will be important - not just chancellor Rachel Reeves, but chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones, former chair of the business select committee and former chair of Labour Digital… Steph Peacock, who previously shadowed the data brief, is now a minister in DCMS… Labour appointments include DWP minister for transformation and leader for NHS data platform (Public Technology)… Alex Davies-Jones, who took a big interest in online safety in opposition, is a new minister at the Ministry of Justice… and a lot of digitally-minded Labour candidates got elected, as evidenced by Labour Digital’s Twitter.

Officials Special advisers - technically, temporary civil servants who can provide more political support to the government than others - are a vital part of the government machine despite the reputation of some of their former number. At DSIT, it sounds like appointees include Darren Murphy (a spad under the previous Labour government), Nicola Bartlett (a political adviser to the Home Office and DCMS teams in opposition, and former journalist) and Peter Kyle’s longstanding adviser, Billy French. Jeegar Kakkad - who spoke at our pre-election event - moves from the Tony Blair Institute to become an adviser to Pat McFadden. Politico also says John Bachelor ‘will move from the party’s central office to be the DSIT link inside No. 10’.

Departing Some shadow DSIT ministers - Chi Onwurah, Matt Rodda, Chris Evans - were not appointed as ministers… Jon Ashworth, a shadow Cabinet Office expected to play a significant role in a Labour government, lost his seat, but is the new director of Labour Together… as did shadow DCMS secretary, Thangam Debbonaire … on the other side of the aisle, former DSIT secretary Michelle Donelan, former digital minister Matt Warman and Damian Collins were among the (many) Tory MPs to lose their seats.

Shadow Cabinet Former minister of state at DSIT, Andrew Griffith, becomes shadow secretary of state for the department, while Julia Lopez, previously a minster across DSIT and DCMS, is the new shadow secretary of state for the latter (previous postholder Lucy Frazer lost her seat).

Tony Blair Not a surprise government appointment unless I’ve missed something dramatic, but a major presence in tech policy discussions over the last fortnight. Last week’s Future of Britain Conference was very heavy on the AI, with a line-up including DeepMInd’s Demis Hassabis and chair of ARIA Matt Clifford. It coincided with Blair penning advice to Keir Starmer in the Sunday Times - the need for digital ID as well as the gamechanging potential of AI - and some new AI-heavy reports, Governing in the Age of AI: Reimagining the UK Department for Work and Pensions… The Economic Case for Reimagining the State… and a week earlier, Governing in the Age of AI: A Leader’s Guide to Artificial-Intelligence Technical Strategy.

You can’t write Bl_AI_r without AI, you know.

And it turned out TBI couldn’t write that research without using some AI, which generated something of a backlash. AI Finds That AI Is Great In New Garbage Research From Tony Blair Institute was 404 Media’s take, while the Guardian reports that the paper in question has been ‘quietly updated’. Rachel Coldicutt wrote about her experience at the conference as a whole, I’m looking for a man in AI, trust fund, 6 foot, blue eyes, which also reflects the nature of a lot of discussion I’ve heard about it since.

Labour also quickly rebuffed the ID suggestion - Labour rejects Tony Blair’s call for ID cards (BBC), note that the digital ID stuff in the Bill (see below) is not the same thing - and Blair himself admits UK will need ‘a little persuading’ to embrace digital ID (Politico).

Never mind the ballots

Huge political shocks aside, this is hopefully a section we can retire after this edition.

Let’s start with one of the odder stories… Reform UK under pressure to prove all its candidates were real people (Guardian)… Reform UK candidate who stood in London was not ‘AI-generated’ (Full Fact)… Reform fake candidates conspiracy theories debunked (BBC)… though AI was involved in a slightly different way (Private Eye)…

This wasn’t the social media election everyone expected (BBC)… Errrr, I would suggest that using ChatGPT to get data and analysis about the election that you’re then explaining on a live TV show is… not smart (Chris Stokel-Walker)… Finally: Someone used generative AI in a Western election (Politico)… UK privacy watchdog grapples with backlog of fines, reprimands following election (The Record)… ‘Spreadsheet issue’ saw 6,500 votes ‘go missing’ in Putney election count (Evening Standard)… I don’t think there was a polling miss (Patrick English).

Labour movement

In a literal sense. Going, going, Vaughan; Vaughan, but not forgotten; I could go on. The First Minister of Wales can’t. The land of my fathers picks up the political instability baton from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Westminster, as four ministerial resignations forced First Minister Vaughan Gething to step down after just 118 days (or 2.4 Trusses, to use the standard unit). (Or perhaps it was Transparency International UK’s call for an independent investigation into the iMessage row that was one of the catalysts #impact.) It’s going to be an interesting leadership contest.

Elsewhere, openDemocracy looked at pre-election lobbying of Labour… and this anecdote is too good not to share.

Bills, bills, bills

Wednesday’s King’s Speech, setting out the new government’s legislative agenda, included 40 Bills, a lot by recent standards. The briefing document give more detail, as does the BBC and the House of Lords Library. The Commons and Lords will spend the next few days debating the different subjects covered by the Speech and the Bills therein.

A video from Peter Kyle outlined the three bills from DSIT: an apparently imminent bill putting the AI Safety Institute on a statutory footing, ‘bringing back’ the Data Bill and ‘preventing hackers from harming the UK’s public services’. More on all that below. (Including why the briefing document only has two DSIT bills.)

Various civil society organisations published reactions to the Speech, including the ODI, Ada and ORG… the Minderoo Centre published their own vision, for a Safe, Sustainable, Empowering: Technology Innovation Policy for the UK’s Digital Future… Heather Burns wrote about How Labour already fixed the biggest policy problem in tech… techUK think The first King’s Speech of the new Government sets economic growth as its most pressing priority (and also looked at education and skills; energy, railways, water, and planning; FinTech; and other tech-relevant bills)… ‘the UK can lead the way in responsible computing and be an example for the world’ was the BCS reaction… while Politico, TechCrunch and Computer Weekly were among those looking at the tech parts of the speech.

As for the individual items…

Digital Information and Smart Data Bill The Data Protection and DIgital Information Bill is dead, long live the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill!

For the most part, DISD (shall we pronounce it ‘dizzed’? yes? good) brings back some of the less controversial parts of DPDIB, namely enabling smart data schemes, developing the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), establishing digital verification services, some ICO reform (a new structure and stronger powers), access to data for scientific research, changes to the Digital Economy Act for sharing data on businesses that use public services, and moving to an electronic registration system for births and deaths, and applying IT standards in health and social care. It is also the vehicle for allowing coroners access to children’s data when investigating the death of a child, the subject of a lot of debate (and cross-party support) during the Online Safety Act’s parliamentary passage and in DPDIB discussions pre-election. Peter Kyle met bereaved families a few days before. DSIT says ‘The Data Bill will improve public services by using data more effectively, grow the economy by £7bn over 10 years and help create a modern digital government.’

I think we should take some encouragement from some of the worst parts of DPDIB being ditched, and hope this shows the new government will listen to voices beyond a small slice of industry. But there be potential dragons: some elements around scientific research may generate controversy (the Royal Society ran a workshop surfacing some of this in early 2023), and ICO reform will be ‘accompanied by targeted reforms to some data laws that will maintain high standards of protection but where there is currently a lack of clarity impeding the safe development and deployment of some new technologies’. Might be worth catching up on our resources around DPDIB, just in case.

We noted in a previous Digest that some industry voices wanted a more wholesale revival of DPDIB - the Data and Marketing Association recently added their voice, saying a new government presents ‘an exciting and opportune moment to take the previous DPDI bill, tighten it up, and put it through the legislative process in haste’. The only place that Bill should be going in haste is through a shredder. Hopefully the new government will take some time to get a new data bill right.

On NUAR… pre-King’s Speech, there were reports that Industry figures push back against telecoms position on NUAR (Ground Engineering, h/t Owen)… DSIT has also published a senior responsible owner letter on NUAR (spot the spelling and date errors, don’t say I don’t know how to spoil you)… the Geospatial Commission also tweeted about it, including details of forthcoming sessions…

Data protection bill ‘not enough’ - bereaved mum (BBC)… Home Office launches major programme to transform civil registration (Public Technology)…

And for the real nerds… there’s been a small update to the government’s DPDIB documents: the changes to table 2 are small downward adjustments of the ‘estimated net present value (NPV) of the amendments’ on NUAR, DWP data access and national security/law enforcement amendments (old document, new document). Don’t say I don’t know how to make your heart beat faster.

AI Bill In the days before the speech, there was much briefing about an AI Bill: Starmer plans to introduce AI bill in King’s Speech was the FT take. In the end, there was no standalone AI Bill announced in the Speech. Politico considered it one of the ‘gaping holes’, also reporting that a standalone bill had been ditched at the last minute, with Number 10 committed to legislating but wanting to get things right.

There were three mentions of AI in the speech and accompanying Bill docs. The first: the speech itself said the government ‘will seek to establish the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models’ - this sentence followed the Employment Rights Bill, leading to people wondering if it would form part of that. The second: the PM’s intro to the briefing document says ‘we will harness the power of artificial intelligence as we look to strengthen safety frameworks’. The third came in the Product Safety and Metrology Bill - see below. Only DISD (above) and the Cyber bill (see below) were listed as DSIT bills in the briefing docs.

Then came the DSIT video with Peter Kyle talking about three pieces of DSIT legislation, and another DSIT tweet about ‘Highly-targeted AI legislation proposed’. Politico also reported background briefing that any AI measures would be ‘highly targeted, with a focus on tomorrow’s models rather than today’s’.

So that’s an excessively long way of saying: a standalone AI Bill had been briefed; no standalone AI Bill appeared in the King’s Speech; the Speech nonetheless indicated that measures were coming at some point; and it seems we’re looking at something short and ‘highly targeted’ coming for frontier models in the near future.

‘Labour’s regulate first, ask questions later instinct puts our world-leading AI sector and countless jobs at risk’ was the reaction from Andrew Griffith, shadow DSIT secretary. Additionally, Time published a piece on What We Know About the New U.K. Government’s Approach to AI.

Cybersecurity and Resilience Bill This is the other Bill DSIT is responsible for. It’s designed to ‘strengthen the UK’s cyber defences, ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that companies rely on are secure’, including ‘mandating increased incident reporting to give government better data on cyber attacks’. The tweet focuses on protecting public services. It came shortly after the ICO reprimanded the London Borough of Hackney following its 2020 cyber attack.

Employment Rights Bill It may not be the AI vehicle some of us originally thought, but this bill - coming in the first 100 days - will translate the New Deal for Working People, or Plan to Make Work Pay, into law. That doc includes various pledges on the use of tech work (summarised in a previous Digest) - they’re not explicitly mentioned in the King’s Speech document but that does talk about making union legislation ‘fit for a modern economy’. The I reports the right to switch off will definitely be included.

Product Safety and Metrology Bill ‘This Bill will support growth, provide regulatory stability and deliver more protection for consumers by responding to new product risks and opportunities to enable the UK to keep pace with technological advances, such as AI… Without these powers, we will not be able to effectively regulate these high-risk products and protect consumers and workers’. It will also ‘target interventions by allowing greater sharing of data between regulators and market surveillance authorities’.

Additionally… Water (Special Measures) Bill ‘require water companies to install real-time monitors at every sewage outlet with data independently scrutinised by the water regulators’… Children’s Wellbeing Bill ‘creating a duty on local authorities to have and maintain Children Not in School registers’… the Sunday Times had that as Register of truants to save ‘ghost child’ generation… which prompted a reaction from Defend Digital Me… Skills England Bill ‘ensure that the national and regional skills systems are meeting skills needs and are aligned, including using local and regional vacancy data as part of a robust evidence base’… Renters’ Rights Bill ‘a digital private rented sector database to bring together key information for landlords, tenants, and councils… while the Railways Bill mentions digital tickets, the Crown Estate Bill would allow investment in digital technologies to support government objectives (like offshore energy), and one imagines more data centres may follow from the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Of course, pauses, looks sagely to camera these days, every Bill is a data bill, since sensible use of data should be critical to delivering all policies.

Online Safety Act We’re not quite done with the King’s Speech yet - the Online Safety Act Network’s Maeve Walsh noted there was no explicit vehicle for promised action on sexually explicit deepfakes… while Labour vows to toughen child online safety law after Ofcom criticised (Times)… Starmer against ‘simply banning’ children’s phones (BBC)… Joint Statement: Ofcom’s Approach to Keeping Children Safe Online (Children’s Coalition)… and Meta Is Getting Rid of CrowdTangle — and Its Replacement Isn’t As Transparent or Accessible (Proof).

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act Senior appointments to CMA’s Digital Markets Unit (CMA)… the CMA has also commenced an inquiry into Microsoft/Inflection.

Parly-vous data?

The new Leader of the House - former shadow DCMS secretary when ‘D’ still meant ‘digital’, Lucy Powell - has outlined what to expect from the next few weeks. The House rises for summer on Tuesday 30 July and returns on Monday 2 September (we also know conference recess runs from Thursday 12 September to Monday 7 October). Before the summer, there’ll be King’s Speech debates, the Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Bill (which authorises government spending), Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, and the Budget Responsibility Bill.

On Thursday 25 July, there will be the first Cabinet Office questions of the new parliament. Take a look at the common themes from Labour MPs and you’ll see what the government would like to be asked about (the PLP will typically circulate suggested questions). We might get some news around the use of digital technologies in government departments, fraud and error across government departments (including procurement, and Covid procurement), and ethics and propriety eyes emoji

We’re also waiting for the new select committees, which scrutinise government, to get set up. The chairs of these committees are allocated according to the election result, and the party whips then discuss which party gets to chair which committee (some, like the Public Accounts Committee, tend to be chaired by an opposition party, but others are more up for grabs). The whole House then gets to elect the chairs. Parties then run elections among their own MPs to decide on select committee members - again, these are allocated according to the election result (so more committees will be chaired by Labour MPs, and all committees will have more members from Labour than any other party). The Hansard Society, IfG and Parliament itself all have more on that. It doesn’t look like they’ll be up and running properly until the autumn - I’ve not seen even the party allocation of chairs announced yet.

My, Corona

The Covid Inquiry has published its first report, from module 1 on resilience and preparedness.

The fifth recommendation in the full report is: The UK government and devolved administrations should establish new mechanisms for the timely collection, analysis, secure sharing and use of reliable data for informing emergency responses, such as data systems to be tested in pandemic exercises [which should be UK-wide, every three years, followed by lessons, recommendations and action plans]. In addition, a wider range of ‘hibernated’ and other studies should be commissioned that are designed to be rapidly adapted to a new outbreak.

Chapter 4 is all about ‘Improving strategy with data and research’.

Expect a lot more on data in future modules (I was asked to do a whole thing on government digital and data for module 2).

AI got ‘rithm

Let’s start with the international picture. The EU AI Act is officially law (as Ursula von der Leyen wins second term as European Commission president)… Europe’s rushed attempt to set the rules for AI (FT)… China deploys censors to create socialist AI (FT)… How Microsoft and the UAE got caught in the crossfire of the U.S.-China tech war (Rest of World)…

While in the US… The Republican Party says ‘We will repeal Joe Biden’s dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology. In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing’… this is apparently part of championing innovation, which also includes opposing the Democrats’ ‘unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown’, and opposing a central bank digital currency… meanwhile AI Maxers Thrilled with Trump’s Vice President Pick JD Vance (404 Media)…

Tony Blair talked about Goldman Sachs findings in his Future of Britain speech last week, which is interesting given their most recent output… GEN AI: TOO MUCH SPEND, TOO LITTLE BENEFIT? (Goldman Sachs)… in summary, Ed Zitron says it ‘includes some of the most damning literature on generative AI I’ve ever seen’… AI bubble set to inflate further (FT)… The bear case for AI: Five reasons to question the frenzy behind the technology (FT)…

AI-Driven Behavior Change Could Transform Health Care (Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington in TIME)… AI Has Become a Technology of Faith (The Atlantic)… AI’s ‘Oppenheimer moment’: autonomous weapons enter the battlefield (The Guardian)… The ‘AI-in-everything’ era is here, and it’s giving us a lot of stuff we don’t need (Fast Company)…

Generative AI Can Harm Learning (University of Pennsylvania)… How AI is fuelling uncertainty for game developers (BBC)… AI is not “democratizing creativity.” It’s doing the opposite (Brian Merchant)… Just found out that Taylor & Francis has sold access to all @routledgebooks data to Microsoft to train their AI (Dr Ruth Alison Clemens)…

Mumsnet launches first British legal action against OpenAI (The Times - and yes, very funny)… Will K-pop’s AI experiment pay off? (BBC)… The AI artist who used Bad Bunny’s voice — and shot to fame (Rest of World)…

OK computer? Understanding public attitudes towards the uses of generative AI in news (Reuters Institute)… Errol Morris on whether you should be afraid of generative AI in documentaries (Nieman Lab)… The assignment: Build AI tools for journalists – and make ethics job one (Poynter)… The Washington Post debuts AI chatbot (Axios)…

Dr Dan McQuillan “Resisting AI” (2nd Ecology of AI Workshop, HHAI 2024 Conference)… Grassroots and non-profit perspectives on generative AI (JRF)… mySociety’s approach to AI (mySociety)… Assuring growth: Making the UK a global leader in AI assurance technology (Social Market Foundation)…

Australia: Children’s Personal Photos Misused to Power AI Tools (Human Rights Watch)… Many people think AI is already sentient - and that’s a big problem (New Scientist)… OpenAI is plagued by safety concerns (The Verge)…

Google Is No Longer Claiming to Be Carbon Neutral (Bloomberg)… How AI is helping us tackle the climate crisis (The Guardian)…

And, er… It’s Time For The Biden Campaign To Embrace AI (HuffPo)… SheerLuxe defends use of AI influencer (BBC).

In brief

What we’ve been up to

What everyone else has been up to

Events

Good reads

And finally:

  • Thanks to Matt at Ada for introducing me to the intriguing Proto, a human/AI musical collaboration from 2019.
Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
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