Report from The European
In Brief – The UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has called for a dedicated AI Bill and a new national AI regulator with powers to ban the release of the most powerful systems if they risk widespread harm or can evade effective human control. Their report recommends that high-risk AI systems be approved before launch, with regulators able to withdraw systems from the market when unacceptable risks emerge. Organizations using AI for significant decisions would have to disclose its use, explain its operation and provide information about data sources. The proposed regulator would investigate AI harms, maintain a public incident register, impose codes of practice, test high-risk systems and require remedies. Developers of powerful models would also submit them to the AI Security Institute for pre-release testing.
Context – When the second Trump Administration took over with a far bigger cohort of tech backers than the first, US AI policy was pushed so firmly in the direction of deregulation and investment that the global dynamic shifted. The UK and Japan, which had taken leadership roles in AI safety discussions in 2023 and 2024, pulled back following the shift in the US, and even the EU, home of the AI Act, has delayed some implementation timelines and proposed some refinements in its Digital Omnibus. The pendulum is now swinging back, with the relative interest in regulation in the US being key because it attracts the most investment and a deregulatory climate threatens investment in other markets. US voter polls show Democrats and Republicans, inundated by science fiction AI warnings, are worried, and many US states are now advancing AI regulatory proposals. The arc in California is instructive. In 2024, Governor Newsome vetoed a major AI safety bill and in 2025 he signed a toned-down version. This year dozens of bills passed. While Democratic officials are especially enthusiastic about AI regulation, there is also a cadre of US conservatives aggressively stoking AI fears and calling for controls. Federal legislation is a longshot. Time is short and enough Democrats won’t back limited middle-ground ideas because the big issue is too valuable politically.