Ofcom has published its Strategic Approach to AI for the year ahead.

As with any attempt to survey the current status and future prospects of AI in a particular sector, Ofcom considers both the good and the bad of AI, together with its role in helping support the opportunities presented by AI, whilst minimising its potentially harmful effects.

First, the positive side of AI: Ofcom outlines the various ways that it is already working with industry and supporting AI innovation. This includes, for example, investing in sandboxes and technical labs, collaborating with other institutions on regulatory alignment, and providing large data sets (including on spectrum use) to help training and develop AI models. Ofcom also states that one of the best ways that it can support AI innovation is by continually ‘horizon scanning’ for ways that AI can both support its work and the industries it regulates, and a number of examples of AI opportunities are set out.

As for the more worrisome aspects of AI, Ofcom outlines its work to date to foster “safe and responsible innovation” by addressing, among other things, synthetic media, personalisation, and security and resilience (all risks that were identified in last year’s Strategic Update).

Looking ahead, Ofcom draws attention to its future plans in this area. For example, it plans to:

• Develop additional media literary resources to equip people to “have good media literacy in response to an increasingly AI-mediated information space”;
• Publish its final guidance on a keeping women and girls safe online;
• Publish research on possible interventions to address harmful deepfakes, such as watermarks, content provenance, and AI labels;
• Explore whether to include additional measures in its Codes of Practice to address AI-based harms; and
• Issue further guidance to broadcasters on their “responsibilities and accountabilities regarding AI”;

To read more, click here.