Programme 5 State of AI Report 2021 2022

Strategy Actions

Year 1

1.4 We will identify the regulatory and financial levers Scotland has to realise the vision, such as funding and procurement and where we need to influence nationally and internationally.

Year 2 and Beyond

3.12 If appropriate, establish an advocacy and recourse service for the people of Scotland

Develop Ethical and Regulatory Frameworks for AI in Scotland

The regulation of AI is a complex area, with a number of both directly and indirectly linked factors requiring consideration. These include clarifying the legislative options presently available to the Scottish Government, opportunities for ‘soft’ regulation such as codes or frameworks of practice, and evaluating approaches in use or development elsewhere, such as those led by the UK Office for AI and the EU’s draft AI regulations.

Financial levers are equally complex, crossing over into business development and investment, education, enterprise and innovation and wider government policy. We have begun to explore these in some depth, identifying connections and opportunities, and where there may be scope to take a joined-up approach with other programmes and partners.

Building on preliminary discussions and research, it is planned to convene a project working group to plan and deliver work on the actions within Programme 5 shortly. Whilst later than initially hoped, this will likely prove beneficial in that it will be possible to link in with work on alignment, engagement, horizon scanning and other Strategy actions.