New rules confirm the public has the right to see how the UK government uses AI

Text, images and other content created by UK government departments and other public bodies using artificial intelligence could be subject to Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, regulators have confirmed, potentially giving the public access to ministers’ ChatGPT and other chatbot records.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection authority, has published new guidance confirming that “when public sector employees use AI for business purposes, the information generated is subject to FOIA”. [the Freedom of Information Act] along with the prompts used. ”

last year, new scientist successfully requested the ChatGPT logs of then UK technology secretary Peter Kyle under the FOI Act, in what is believed to be a world first. This prompted requests from other news organizations for additional information, many of which were rejected due to cost or labeled as “troublesome,” an umbrella term that allows authorities to deny requests.

Clarification from the ICO could change the situation. “It would now be very difficult for public authorities to argue that AI-related requests are not subject to FOIA,” said John Baines of London-based law firm Mishcon de Reya.

“The ICO’s guidance is generally reasonable and should come as no surprise to most practitioners,” he says. “If information is “held” in recorded form by a public authority, no matter where it is located and on what systems, it is in principle subject to FOIA, and this should also apply to inputs and outputs to AI systems and tools. ”

“I think it should be uncontroversial,” says Tim Turner, a data protection expert based in Manchester, England. “If records were collected by public officials performing their duties, they are within scope,” he says. “That should apply equally to AI interactions and Post-it notes.”

New guidelines may allow government employees to successfully request prompts for use in AI tools. The ICO has also suggested that public authorities may be required to use AI to summarize large documents and datasets when responding to requests, allowing them to respond to requests that were previously rejected on cost grounds.

Some have criticized the ability to use FOI laws to obtain AI chat logs. Matt Clifford, head of the UK’s Advanced Research and Inventions Agency (ARIA), recently posted on social media that the decision to release Mr Kyle’s interactions with ChatGPT was “absurd” and “very corrosive and more or less guarantees that ministers will not use AI”. Unusually for a public body, ARIA is exempt from FOI laws.

When asked what prompted the new guidelines, new scientist The FOI request was successful, but the ICO refused to respond. A spokesperson said: “We regularly attend events and seek feedback on areas where both public authorities and requesters value further clarity and guidance. Our recent guidance on AI and FOI reflects what we’ve heard from organizations, and we’ve tested it with external stakeholders to ensure the content is as clear and useful as possible.”