Following the UK Government's AI Safety Summit last month, during which 28 countries signed the Bletchley Declaration, establishing an agreement and shared understanding of the opportunities and risks posed by frontier AI (artificial intelligence), academics from King's who are part of RAI UK are helping to champion a reflective, and inclusive approach to AI development.

Professor Sana Khareghani, Professor of Practice in the Department of Informatics, leads on policy and public engagement for RAI, alongside Dr Kate Devlin, Reader in Artificial Intelligence and Society, who leads the creative and outreach strand. Dr Caitlin Bentley, Lecturer in AI Education, runs the RAI skills programme and Professor Prokar Dasgupta, Professor of Surgery in the Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, sits on the RAI UK Leadership team.

Their joint aim is to create a research and innovation ecosystem for responsible and trustworthy AI that will be responsive to the needs of society.

Led by the University of Southampton, RAI UK brings together a multidisciplinary team from King’s, Queen's University Belfast, Swansea University, the University of Glasgow, University College London, the University of Nottingham and the University of Cambridge. Working together with industry partners, governments and practitioners, they connect UK research into responsible AI with leading research centres and institutions around the world.

Funded by the Technology Missions Fund, the group aims to convene researchers, industry professionals, policy makers and civil society organisations and conduct and fund research into responsible AI. To date, the group has:

• Consulted and hosted town halls in Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff, include 16 roundtable sessions across the devolved nations
• Was a founding partner of the AI Fringe, a series of events intended to complement the UK Government’s AI Safety Summit and expand discussion around safe and responsible AI beyond the AI Safety Summit’s focus on Frontier AI safety.
• Funded £1.8m of research into seven projects that address Generative AI in teaching and learning, AI regulation and emotional AI standards
• Funded £300k of international partnerships projects in the RAI UK International Partnership Scheme, allowing for UK research groups to work with international collaborators on research into responsible and trustworthy AI, to mitigate potential issues that arise beyond national boundaries

RAI UK is also now seeking applications for their headline funding programme, to help enable responsible AI to power benefits for everyday life. Working in collaboration, researchers, industry professionals, policymakers and stakeholders will drive an ecosystem that will be responsive to the needs of society. The RAI UK will fund successful applications between £2m and £3.5m at 80% full economic cost for up to five grants. The deadline for submissions is 15 December 2023.

Professor Prokar Dasgupta, Professor of Surgery at King's commented: 

"I am delighted that health and social care feature prominently within RAIUK. We have established a cross-cutting working group to follow guidance on AI from the World Health Organisation, highlight the excellent work that is being done within healthcare in the UK and standardise reporting frameworks for the benefit of patients and society."

Professor Sarvapali (Gopal) Ramchurn, Chief Executive Officer of RAI UK, said:

“I’m very pleased with the progress we have made in the last six months. We have ensured the diverse views on responsible AI from across the UK have been taken into account in shaping the programme. We had a great response during the AI Fringe and now we need to keep the momentum going to ensure we quickly address the harms engendered by current and future AI systems.”