A cross-party group of United Kingdom lawmakers has called for a new law to tackle the growing threat artificial intelligence poses to human rights, warning that existing regulations are no longer adequate to keep pace with the technology.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights, made up of MPs and peers from both Houses of Parliament, made the call in a 100-page report examining the impact of AI and the risks it poses to fundamental rights.
Committee chair and Labour MP Alex Sobel said current laws and regulations were not sufficient to deal with the rapid development of AI.
“Nowhere in the world, including the UK, has a current legislative and regulatory approach to AI that is fit for purpose,” Sobel said.
The committee highlighted several human rights concerns linked to AI, including the creation of sexualised images of women and girls and the use of facial recognition technology without people’s consent.
It also called for the establishment of a “single, independent AI oversight body… on a statutory basis”, arguing that the current system is “fragmented and difficult to navigate”, “leaving gaps in protection”.
The report recommended stronger requirements for high-risk AI systems throughout their development and use.
It also said some applications should be banned entirely where they conflict with human rights, citing subliminal techniques and inappropriate profiling or use of biometric data as potential areas for prohibition.
Sobel said AI could bring major technological advances but warned that its rapid development was making its consequences increasingly difficult to predict.
“AI is heralded as an unprecedented era of technological development with the potential to transform our lives for better or for worse,” he said.
“It is moving with such speed and complexity that its impact is hard to accurately predict. What is clear is that at present we are unprepared to deal with its consequences however potentially dire they may be.”
The report comes amid increasing concerns over AI safety and its wider impact.
Former Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon recently told the BBC that staff developing advanced AI systems were “genuinely frightened” about the future of humanity, while Anthropic said it was developing “models with some of the strongest safeguards in the industry”.
The Labour government had promised in its 2024 election manifesto to introduce binding regulation for companies developing the most powerful AI models.
However, no dedicated AI bill was included in this year’s King’s Speech.
Labour education minister Georgia Gould said the government was already taking steps to address AI-related risks, including measures against non-consensual sexualised deepfakes and legislation connected to cyber security.
“There is action happening and we’re continuing to really carefully monitor the rise of AI, the way the technology is evolving and making sure we’re staying alongside it, and we have some of the best people in the world doing that work,” Gould said.
She added that the AI Security Institute was testing models entering the UK and working on emerging challenges, while stressing the importance of international cooperation.
The committee also warned that AI could reproduce biases contained in internet-sourced datasets and could be used to generate and spread misinformation.
