Contributions
775 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsThose questions will rightly be the focus of the ongoing inquiries.26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsFollowing the failure of the system, three strands of investigation have been put in place. First, BT is performing its own internal investigation. Secondly, Ofcom is engaging…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsI pay tribute to the noble Lord’s frequent correspondence with me on this subject and recognise the importance of what he says. I do not want to prejudge the findings of the deep…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsIndeed, I recognise the risk that the noble Lord describes. One of the absolute priorities must be to identify whether there is a broader systemic risk of which the unfortunate…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsIt will be an area covered by the report. I stress that, from the information that I have so far, BT was able to implement its disaster recovery planning and system and return,…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsIt is an excellent question; I am afraid the truth is that I do not know the answer at this point, but I will be happy to write to the noble Lord.26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsI accept the great seriousness of the situation. The event that caused the platform to go down occurred at 6.30 am on Sunday. The Government were advised of the event at 9.20 am,…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsThere are a range of important questions there. First, BT provides the service of call handling directly to the communications providers. The CPs then act as they are required to,…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsTo my knowledge, there was no COBRA meeting—I imagine because the disaster recovery system kicked in and was able to meet the emergency requirements.26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsI do not want to prejudge the outcome of the inquiries. If they determine that there are systemic issues that need to be addressed, then we will put in place a plan to address…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsI recognise the importance of those questions, particularly with respect to our ambition to provide technology that is available to all at all times. The questions will also quite…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsI recognise the value of what the noble Baroness is bringing out. The scope of the inquiry must remain: what went wrong, what were the impacts and what do we therefore need to…26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsI recognise the question, but we are entering an area of technicality that is, I am afraid, slightly beyond my knowledge. I am happy to write to the noble Baroness on that point.26 Jun 2023HANSARDEmergency CommunicationsI do not want to prejudge the investigation—26 Jun 2023HANSARDArtificial IntelligenceThe Government are co-operating with international partners both bilaterally and multilaterally to address advanced AI’s regulatory challenges, including via our autumn global AI…26 Jun 2023HANSARDArtificial IntelligenceWe must recognise that China is ranked number two in AI capabilities globally, and we would not therefore envisage excluding China from any such discussions on how to deal best…26 Jun 2023HANSARDArtificial IntelligenceI thank the noble Lord for that question. The starting point for the AI White Paper—of which I do not accept the characterisation of tentative—was, first, not to duplicate…26 Jun 2023HANSARDArtificial IntelligenceMy noble friend is absolutely right that the potential benefits of AI are extremely great, but so too are the risks. One of the functions of our recently announced Foundation…26 Jun 2023HANSARDArtificial IntelligenceThe noble Lord is absolutely right to point out that legislation must necessarily move more slowly than technology. As far as possible, the Online Safety Bill has been designed to…26 Jun 2023HANSARDArtificial IntelligenceThe risks have indeed been well publicised and are broadly understood as to whether and when AI becomes more intelligent than humans. Opinions vary but the risk is there.…26 Jun 2023