Technology Secretary Liz Kendall will announce a new blueprint of artificial intelligence (AI) regulation at the Times Tech Summit, relaxing some rules in testing conditions to drive innovation and growth
The new AI regulation plans will rollout controlled testing environments with reduced regulation to accelerate results, known as sandboxes, in sectors such as healthcare, professional services, transport, and the use of robotics in advanced manufacturing.
The AI Growth Lab could help slash planning approval times, according to the technology secretary, cutting through the average housing development’s 4,000 pages of documentation and 18-month timeline submission to approval.
Technology secretary Liz Kendall said:
“To deliver national renewal, we need to overhaul the old approaches which have stifled enterprise and held back our innovators.
“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.
“This isn’t about cutting corners – it’s about fast-tracking responsible innovations that will improve lives and deliver real benefits.”
Safety and oversight will be managed by “tech and regulatory experts”, as well as implementing a licensing scheme with strong safeguards.
The government will now move ahead with a public call for views on its AI Growth Lab proposals, which close on 2 January 2026. This includes considerations over whether the programme should be run in-house by the government, or overseen by regulators themselves.
The government is keen to deploy AI to reduce inefficiency
The announcement came in tandem with a planned construction business blitz, where the Government is hoping to save UK businesses around £6bn annually by cutting red tape and admin.
The government has been chipping away at the planning backlog with AI deployment strategies for some time now, such as using the Extract AI tool to swiftly digitise handwritten notes for easier access, as well as instantly cross-referencing maps and policy documents to create detailed resources containing all relevant boundaries, development rights, addresses and dates.
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