The legal sector took a starring role in the prime minister's speech on the potential - and risks - of artificial intelligence. Speaking in the run-up to next week's global summit on the topic, Rishi Sunak yesterday enthused on AI's potential benefits 'across every aspect of our lives'. 

'AI will bring new knowledge, new opportunities for economic growth, new advances in human capability…, and the chance to solve problems that we once thought beyond us,' Sunak said. 

In the public sector, he said, the technology is helping clear tribunal backlogs. 'Just take for example, the task of producing bundles for a benefits tribunal. Before, a week’s work could produce around 11. Now – that takes less than an hour.'

Turning to the private sector, he said 'start-ups like Robin AI are revolutionising the legal profession writing contracts in minutes, saving businesses and customers time and money.'  The London-based contract software firm Robin was one of only two commercial innovators name-checked in the speech.  

Prime minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech on Artificial Intelligence (AI) at The Royal Society in London

Sunak: AI start-ups are 'revolutionising the legal profession'

Source: TOLGA AKMEN/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

On a more cautious note, the prime minister noted that like most technological revolutions, AI 'brings new dangers and new fears'. He noted that at present, 'the only people testing the safety of AI are the very organisations developing it’. 

However he reiterated the government's policy of non-interference in the sector. 'The UK’s answer is not to rush to regulate,' he said. 'This is a point of principle – we believe in innovation, it’s a hallmark of the British economy, so we will always have a presumption to encourage it, not stifle it.'

In any case, he asked 'how can we write laws that make sense for something we don’t yet fully understand?'

Ahead of next week's Bletchley Park summit, which is expected to lead to the creation of a global panel of AI experts along the lines of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the prime minister announced plans to establish what he called 'the world’s first AI Safety Institute – right here in the UK'.

The prime minister also announced the investment of £2.5bn in quantum computing technology, which he said 'can be exponentially quicker' than the fastest machines today.

 

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