UK Green Party proposes 5-point plan to tighten AI regulation

The UK’s Green Party has proposed a five-point plan to curb the power of technology companies and strengthen oversight of artificial intelligence amid warnings that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity, Sky News reported on Thursday.

The proposals include working with other countries to establish a global body to oversee and regulate AI development and introducing a legal ban on lethal autonomous weapons.

Such weapons can independently identify and engage targets without human intervention. Although the UK does not currently possess them, its recent Defense Investment Plan pledged £5 billion ($6.8 billion) for drones and autonomous systems.

The Greens’ plan also calls for directing public funding toward AI developed “for the public good,” protecting workers by keeping key decisions under human control and developing domestic AI infrastructure to reduce reliance on US technology.

“Technologies with the power to reshape our lives must be subject to effective public oversight,” Green lawmaker Sian Berry said. “Greens want strong regulation of AI, with clear safeguards against harmful uses and proper democratic accountability.”

The party did not specify how the proposals would be funded, with further details expected later.

Dame Chi Onwurah, the Labour chair of Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee, said regulation was necessary “in the light of recent events” but criticized the Greens’ announcement as “a hodge-podge of buzzwords and meaningless phrases.”

The proposals came after Evan Hubinger, a senior safety researcher at AI company Anthropic, warned that he believed there was a greater than 10% chance AI could pose a species-ending risk within the next decade.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham also acknowledged “risks to national security” associated with AI during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

Burnham said giving AI Safety Minister Kanishka Narayan a seat at the Cabinet table had “lifted the level of the conversation about artificial intelligence within government.”