The government intends to make AI regulation more straightforward, and the benefits are already being felt in NHS admin and drug discovery.
Technology secretary Liz Kendal has announced plans to look at how companies and innovators can test new AI products in real-world conditions, with some rules and regulations temporarily relaxed under strict supervision.
Known as sandboxes, individual regulations are temporarily switched off or tweaked for a limited period of time in safe, controlled testing environments. They would initially be set up for key sectors of the economy, like healthcare, professional services, transport, and the use of robotics in advanced manufacturing, to accelerate the responsible development and deployment of AI products.
It will be overseen by tech and regulatory experts and backed up by a strict licensing scheme with strong safeguards, meaning any breaches of individual agreements or the emergence of unacceptable risks, would stop testing in its tracks and open users who have breached their terms up to potential fines.
“We want to remove the needless red tape that slows progress so we can drive growth and modernise the public services people rely on every day,” said Kendall.
“This isn’t about cutting corners – it’s about fast-tracking responsible innovations that will improve lives and deliver real benefits,” she continued.
Improving productivity
The emphasis on AI and technology is central to the government’s 10 Year Health Plan and the benefits are already being seen.
First, a pilot of Microsoft 365 Copilot across 90 NHS organisations found that AI-powered administrative support could save NHS staff on average 43 minutes per staff member per day. Results from the trial show that a full roll-out could save up to 400,000 hours of staff time per month.
“Innovations like this will help drive NHS productivity so patients can get the treatment they need sooner and there is better value for taxpayers,” said health innovation minister Zubir Ahmed.
Elsewhere, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is leading three new government-backed projects using AI-driven approaches. In the first, scientists from the MHRA, working with PhaSER Biomedical and the University of Dundee, will use AI to look for patterns in anonymised NHS data showing how different medicines behave when used together, focusing on cardiovascular medicines. The second is a pilot of the use of AI-assisted tools to support experts in scientific advice, clinical trial assessments and licensing decisions. The third will trial the use of synthetic patient data to support clinical trials in cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and rare paediatric seizure conditions.
