10. What discussions has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government about regulation of artificial intelligence? OQ59636

Llywydd, the Welsh Government officials have been in dialogue with counterparts in the UK Government about AI regulation. I support the need for regulation in this area, alongside relevant standards, governance and assurance mechanisms that will help ensure that AI is used in responsible, ethical, inclusive and safe ways.

I'm grateful to the First Minister for his answer, and can I put on record my support for his comments he’s made there? That is to say, as an engineer, First Minister, I have been surprised for some time, actually, about how little AI has been talked about in policy circles. I think it was around three years ago now when I wrote about the need to manage automation very carefully if we weren’t to see the same sort of impact that we saw with deindustrialisation in the 1980s.

Now, we’ve heard already from Altaf Hussain in the Chamber the opportunities that AI has in front of us, and we must embrace those opportunities, because AI is happening. What’s important, First Minister, is we get our response right. That is to say that, globally, we have been playing regulatory catch-up ever since social media emerged, and AI is about to significantly provide a bigger change. We must work together to regulate right and to ensure a just transition protects working people. First Minister, will you take that message directly to the UK Government, and will you also outline how, in Wales, we work through our social partnership approach to ensure a just transition?

Llywydd, Jack Sargeant makes a series of very important points. If the debate on AI has been slow to emerge, it has certainly caught fire in more recent weeks. This is an area where I believe that UK-wide regulation has significant advantages, and the Welsh Government will play our part in the consultation that the UK Government is currently carrying out on AI regulation. But we will do it in the way that Jack Sargeant has suggested, Llywydd—we will do it in a spirit of social partnership. We will make sure that our response draws on the views of the wider private and public sector in Wales. We know that our trade union colleagues have done some very important work into the impact of AI in the workplace. We will also draw, Llywydd, on the close relationship that we have with the Centre for Data, Ethics and Innovation, because this is an area where I think being sure that we do not treat it simply as a technological issue, but that we are alert to the ethical issues that stand alongside it, is very important in order to make sure that the advantages can be harvested and that the rights of individuals are also properly protected. That will be the focus of our contribution to the consultation, and then I hope that, instead of playing catch-up, as Jack Sargeant has said, we will have a regulatory regime in place that has the public interest at its core, despite the fact that we are often dealing here with very powerful and transnational companies. 

I thank the First Minister.