Skip to Content
Policy

The UK is doubling down on AI ethics and fake news

January 25, 2018

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, British prime minister Theresa May says her country is taking aim at some of tech’s biggest issues.

Fighting fake news: A new UK national security unit, part of the nation’s defense program, will be “tasked with combating disinformation by state actors,” notes the Guardian. At Davos, May echoed previous comments by asking social-media firms to “step up to their responsibilities.”

Making AI moral: The Telegraph ($) says a UK Center for Data Ethics will try to make machine learning safe and ethical. It hopes to coordinate with other nations, and May says she hopes it will help Britain become a “world leader in innovation-friendly regulation.”

Warning to investors: The BBC reports that May has also urged investors to demand more from the firms they back, by “ensuring trust and safety issues are being properly considered.”

But: It’s unclear if the UK government will be able to truly shape global action on these topics, especially in AI, where the country is a relatively minor player compared with the US and China.

Deep Dive

Policy

What happened to the microfinance organization Kiva?

A group of strikers argue that the organization seems more focused on making money than creating change. Are they right?

Worldcoin just officially launched. Here’s why it’s already being investigated.

The project is backed by some of tech's biggest stars, but four countries are probing its privacy practices.

Google has a new tool to outsmart authoritarian internet censorship

Its Outline VPN can now be built directly into apps—making it harder for governments to block internet access, particularly during protests.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.