UK Parliament demands comprehensive AI bill to address human rights threats

Following growing concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and fears over its potential risks, the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has demanded an urgent comprehensive AI bill, warning that current legislative frameworks are not prepared to deal with the expansion of advanced systems.

Following growing concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and fears over its potential risks, the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has demanded an urgent comprehensive AI bill, warning that current legislative frameworks are not prepared to deal with the expansion of advanced systems.

The panel argued that existing laws place liability primarily on users who deploy AI systems rather than system developers, creating dangerous blind spots across the technology supply chain, according to cross-party MPs and peers.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published a report calling for a new bill on AI to “address the scale and seriousness” of such threats.

“Nowhere in the world, including the UK, has a current legislative and regulatory approach to AI that is fit for purpose,” said Labour MP and committee chair Alex Sobel.

A government spokesperson said AI is “advancing at an extraordinary pace” and is creating opportunities and risks.

They said, “We’re leading global efforts to test and understand AI, with the best-resourced security institute in the world, that will help us develop the standards and safeguards necessary to keep people safe.”

On Saturday, Dario Amodei, head of US AI company Anthropic, outlined a plan calling for greater regulation of AI.

Amodei’s plan includes global regulation, industry-wide regulation and independent monitoring of AI models as they are developed.

Lawmakers pointed out that fragmented, sector-specific regulations fail to prevent foreseeable human rights abuses, ranging from non-consensual biometric tracking to systemic algorithmic bias affecting marginalised communities.

The report comes amid increasing global discussions regarding the safe trajectory of artificial intelligence development, echoing parallel warnings from international human rights officials concerning unchecked technological power.

Experts argue that establishing strict statutory safeguards is essential to guarantee individual transparency and accountability before potential automated harms materialize on a large scale.

Amodei also called for the pace of AI development to be slowed down, while the bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk, said they agreed with him.