Artificial Intelligence in the United Kingdom
Regulatory guidance / voluntary codes in the United Kingdom
On 31 January 2025, the UK Government published a Code of Practice for the Cyber Security of AI (Code) setting out cyber security requirements applying throughout the lifecycle of AI systems. The Code consists of thirteen principles to be voluntarily applied by relevant groups within the AI Supply chain, namely system operators, developers, data custodians, end-users and other affected entities, with each principle linked to a particular stage of the AI system lifecycle.
On 13 January 2025, the UK Government announced an AI Opportunities Action Plan (Action Plan), its roadmap towards harnessing AI opportunities to enhance growth and productivity for the UK, focusing heavily on investment in infrastructure and skills.
The Bletchley Declaration dated 1 November 2023 was the outcome of the UK's AI Safety Summit held by the previous UK Government and signed by several international governments, each affirming that AI should be designed, developed, deployed and used in a manner that is safe, in such a way as to be human-centric, trustworthy and responsible. The UK delegation notably joined the USA in declining to sign the declaration on 'inclusive' AI at the Paris AI Summit in 2025.
On 29 March 2023, the UK Government published a White Paper: A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation (White Paper) elaborating on the approach to AI set out in its 18 July 2022 AI Governance and Regulation Policy Statement. The White Paper set out proposals for implementing a proportionate, future-proof and pro-innovation legislative framework for regulating AI and identified five key principles (para. 48, section 3.2.3):
- Safety, security and robustness;
- Appropriate transparency and explainability;
- Fairness;
- Accountability and governance; and
- Contestability and redress.
On 31 July 2025, BSI launched the world’s first international standard for independent audits of AI systems aiming to ensure consistent evaluation of AI reliability, fairness and safety.
The government is planning to legislate to grant the AI Safety Institute statutory independence by late 2025, making voluntary safety pledges legally binding.
Additionally, in July 2025, the government signed non-binding arrangements with several frontier AI model providers, to foster adoption in public services including deployment in ‘AI Growth Zones’.