The vehicle that never arrived: binding statutory duties on frontier-model developers, promised since 2024 and repeatedly delayed, leaving AISI testing and the 2023 non-statutory framework as the UK regime. Its absence from the May 2026 King's Speech is the current status; civil society (Ada Lovelace) presses for it, industry has favoured the status quo.
Vehicles carry asks; asks outlive them
Sorted by what filers wanted done to the rules
“techUK welcomes the much-anticipated publication of the UK’s AI White Paper and supports its plans for a context-specific, principle-based approach to governing AI that promotes innovation. The government must now prioritise building the necessary regulatory capacity, expertise, and coordination.”
Endorses the non-statutory, regulator-led approach; coded oppose relative to the binding-legislation ask.
“New legislation, and more robust enforcement of existing laws, will be necessary to ensure foundation models are safe.”
“A credible AI Bill must establish powers for government and regulators to define what ‘safe’ looks like. This includes setting safety standards, thresholds for acceptable risk and rules for how harms must be assessed and mitigated.”