The UK government should pass laws to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) or risk “falling behind” the EU and the US, according to a new report by the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee.

The report said that once legislation is established by other countries, it will be difficult for the UK to take a different approach.

The Committee added that a tightly-focused AI Bill would “help, not hinder” the prime minister’s aim of making the UK an AI governance leader.

The report detailed 12 challenges of AI governance that need to be addressed by policy makers, including the bias challenge, where AI can introduce or perpetuate biases that society finds unacceptable, and the misrepresentation challenge, where AI allows the generation of material which deliberately misrepresents someone’s behaviour or opinions.

“AI is full of opportunities, but also contains many important risks to long-established and cherished rights - ranging from personal privacy to national security - that people will expect policymakers to guard against,” said Greg Clark, who chairs the Committee. “The UK’s depth of technical expertise and reputation for trustworthy regulation stand us in good stead and our Committee strongly welcomes the AI Safety Summit taking place at Bletchley Park in November.”

Clark added that if the government’s ambitions are to be realised and its approach is to go beyond talks, it may need to move with “greater urgency” to enact the legislative powers it says will be needed.

Earlier this month, the government said it would hold a global AI summit in November to address the challenges of safely developing AI.

The government says it has invested more on AI safety research than any other country by backing the creation of the of the Foundation Model Taskforce with an initial £100 million.

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