Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)

What it does

Lead UK department for AI policy. Parent of the AI Security Institute. Responsible for the UK's context-based, regulator-led AI approach (no cross-sector AI statute in force), the AI Opportunities Action Plan, AI and copyright policy (including the Section 137 Data (Use and Access) Act progress reporting), and online safety policy alongside Ofcom. DSIT sets policy and can sponsor legislation; it does not itself adjudicate or fine.

Its powers

advise

Honest assessment

The ministerial correspondence form is the classic example of a route that is logged but not read by policy officials — it generates a templated reply from a correspondence unit. The real DSIT lever is a consultation window: responses are analysed, quoted in the government response document, and named organisations' positions are visible in the outcome. DSIT ran substantial AI and copyright and children's-online-experience consultations in 2025-26. Watch the GOV.UK consultation feed and respond inside the window; outside it, go via the Commons SIT Committee instead, where your evidence is published.

Notes

The UK still has no general AI statute; a frontier AI bill has been repeatedly trailed and repeatedly deferred. Verify the current legislative position before assuming a bill exists.