In today’s blog we review the UK Government’s new draft procurement guidelines for AI.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a major part of all our lives and societies. From popular voice command applications like Siri and Alexa; to business spam filters; and connected cars like Tesla; AI is all around us. Increasingly, AI is being introduced within the public service sector with a view to improving efficiency, reducing costs, saving time and enhancing quality. Yet with ethical and privacy concerns being the opposite side of the coin, last month the UK government released draft guidelines for AI procurement within the public sector.
According to document the new AI procurement guidelines “will help inform and empower buyers in the public sector, helping them to evaluate suppliers, then confidently and responsibly procure technologies for the benefit of citizens.”
Overview
The UK AI procurement guidelines are broken down into the following steps:
- Explore procurement processes that focus on the challenge rather than a specific solution
- Define the public benefit of using AI while assessing risks
- Include your procurement within a strategy for AI adoption
- Incorporate references to legislation and codes of practice in the invitation to tender
- Articulate the technical feasibility and governance considerations of obtaining relevant data
- Develop a strategy to address technical and ethical limitations of using training data
- Conduct procurement with diverse multidisciplinary teams
- Focus on mechanisms of accountability and transparency throughout procurement
- Consider the life-cycle management of the AI system
- Creative a level and fair playing field for suppliers
Who are procurement guidances applicable to
The UK Office for AI offers that the procurement guidance are “for multidisciplinary teams involved in public procurement decisions relating to AI projects:
A pilot of the UK AI procurement guidelines is expected to begin this Autumn.
If your company is currently considering procuring or developing an AI system, Aphaia’s AI ethics assessments will assist in ensuring that it falls within the scope of the EU’s and UK’s ethical framework.
