AI guidelines set out for public-sector adoption
Guidance to help public-sector bodies adopt artificial intelligence securely and with confidence has been published today (30 June).
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), under the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration has set out guidelines as part of a wider package of support for the responsible and secure adoption of AI in the public service.
The guidelines are accompanied by a risk assessment, which sets out the principal cyber security dangers associated with AI deployments.
Where risks are identified, the guidelines sets out concrete, actionable measures to prevent or mitigate them across the full life cycle of an AI system – from design and development through to deployment, maintenance, and secure retirement.
The measures are deliberately flexible: how they are applied varies with the type and complexity of the deployment.
The guidelines include worked examples to help organisations apply them in practice.
Measures
While the guidelines are designed for the public sector, the principles and measures they set out are applicable to organisations of every kind, the Government says.
Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Jack Chambers said the focus was on enabling the public service to keep moving forward with the technology in a secure and responsible way.
“The public service is already doing excellent work in putting AI to use, to improve how it serves the public, and these guidelines are designed to support and build on that."
Tool
“They give public-sector bodies another practical tool to deploy AI with confidence, alongside our guidelines for the Responsible Use of AI in the Public Service,” he said.
Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan said that his priority was adoption in a manner that protected the
security of public-sector bodies and national security.
The guidelines are published with the support of the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (DPER) and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE), which leads on the implementation of the EU AI Act.