The Opportunity for Policymakers

Policymakers at diverse governance levels—municipal, national, supranational, and international—can contribute to the success of the emerging AI Assurance Technology ecosystem, and they stand to generate great payoffs from doing so. Effective risk management of AI-related risks is required to avert catastrophic societal harm, preserve economic stability and foster an optimistic business environment. AIAT solution-providers cannot, by themselves, guarantee a successful transition to new risk management systems tailored to an age of ubiquitous AI. Legislation action and compliance requirements are a major driver for the growth of the AIAT ecosystem. For investors and entrepreneurs to confidently progress in financing and building the necessary solutions, they depend upon prudent, plain, and predictable policies. Thus, regulators will undoubtedly play a critical role in facilitating the pace, the scale, and the success of the AIAT market. Policymakers can and should implement several supportive and complementary actions, such as:

1. Support the AIAT ecosystem with market-shaping policies at the national or supranational level. This includes: (a) Deliberate, well-defined, proactively-earmarked, and reliable announcements of AI-related compliance requirements for AI companies and AI-adopting sectors; (b) Internationally harmonised standards to afford cross-border interoperability and scalability of governance, risk management, and compliance initiatives; and (c) new external governance infrastructure (e.g., accreditation schemes, reporting channels) tailored to support the unique challenges faced by AIAT companies.

2. Encourage academic AI safety and ethics research in collaboration with, or in support of, emerging AIAT companies.

3. Support the emerging AIAT ecosystem with public funding (e.g., grants, public-private funds, bounties, impact bonds) and procurement efforts, aiming to complement and spur rather than replace private-sector investments.