DSIT consultation on proposed AI Growth Lab - Which?'s response

Executive Summary

Which? welcomes this opportunity to respond to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s call for evidence on its proposal for an AI Growth Lab.  The AI Growth Lab is proposed as a pioneering cross-economy sandbox for supervising the deployment of AI-enabled products and services that current regulation hinders.  The Lab would enable businesses and regulators to trial novel AI products and generate real-world evidence of their impact, which could speed-up regulatory approvals.  The AI Growth Lab would use dynamic regulation to pilot and test AI products, by enabling controlled deployment of cutting-edge AI systems within live market environments, with targeted regulatory modifications where necessary.

In our response, we endorse the value of the proposed cross-economy approach over single regulator sandboxes; but we also highlight risks around lack of consistent definitions of consumer vulnerability across sectors; and risks around consumer rights and redress mechanisms across multiple sectors becoming onerous or overly complex for consumers.  We also argue that the sandbox should be utilized to identify regulatory gaps where new protections may be required to ensure innovations truly benefit UK consumers and do not impose unmanageable risks on them.

We are pleased that the proposed list of types of rules and obligations that could never be modified or dis-applied during a pilot include human rights and consumer rights and redress mechanisms; but we believe the list should be expanded to include data protection and privacy rights; and protections against discrimination.

Finally, we argue that the institutional model used to operate the proposed Lab must ensure consistent and robust cross-economy co-ordination; clarity on roles, responsibilities, and governance; and transparency and accountability.  Consumer outcomes must also be monitored, across both the intended consumer benefits and any possible consumer harms.