Peers inflict Government defeat amid fears gender self-ID might confuse AI
21 January 2025, 19:04
Peers voted 205 to 159, majority 46, to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill.
Ministers have suffered a defeat in the House of Lords amid fears gender self-ID might mislead the AI systems doctors and the police use.
Peers voted 205 to 159, majority 46, to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill, demanding that Government agencies “reliably ascertain the personal data” on passports and drivers’ licences.
Conservative former minister Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom warned peers that artificial intelligence risked creating “synthetic” identity risks if people can change their sex on documents without a record of their sex at birth.
But Liberal Democrat Lord Clement-Jones cautioned his colleagues not to create a “culture war”.
Lord Arbuthnot told the upper chamber on Tuesday: “The digital verification system operates at the moment on the basis of chosen gender and not on the basis of sex at birth.”
He continued: “We can’t go on like that. The consequences of this are really concerning. It means that people with mismatched identities will risk being flagged up as a synthetic identity risk.
“It means that authorities with statutory safeguarding responsibilities won’t be able to assess the risk that they are trying to deal with.
“It means that illnesses may be misdiagnosed and treatments misdescribed if the wrong sex is stated in someone’s medical records.
“Police will be unable to identify people if they are looking in the wrong records.
“The Disclosure and Barring Service checks may fail to match individuals with the wrong sex.”
Conservative peer Lord Lucas, who proposed the amendment, referred to Baby Lilah, whose parents registered her birth in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
According to national media reports, Lilah’s sex was wrongly recorded as male on her birth certificate and there was no provision to re-issue the document.
Instead, authorities made an amendment in the document’s margin.
“That works in analogue,” Lord Lucas said.
“It’s there on the certificate. But in digital, these are separate fields.”
The peer, who later described self-ID as “an attractive thought”, warned that an AI system might look at the sex field on a document but “you can’t rely on the AI systems to look at” marginal notes.
Lord Clement-Jones said: “I do have some sympathy for the desire for accuracy in the records covered by digital ID services and I hope that the Government will be able to give assurances about that.
“But we do not wish to turn this into one of the battles in a culture war opportunity.”
Technology minister Lord Vallance of Balham, said before the vote: “I’m absolutely behind the notion that the validity of the data is critical. We have to get this right.
“The Bill itself of course takes the data from other sources and those sources have authority to get the information correct, but it is important that for a digital service in particular this is dealt with very, very carefully and that we have good assurance processes.”
The minister told peers that the Central Digital and Data Office had already started work on “developing data standards”.
A short time later, peers inflicted a further Government defeat by 186 votes to 162, majority 24, in demanding moves aimed at ensuring cyber-security measures are in place before the sharing of information from a new national underground asset register, showing the location of pipes, cables and other infrastructure.
Later, in a heavy setback for the Labour frontbench, peers voted by 258 to 138, majority 120, for a move to ensure the use of data for scientific research was in the public interest and prevent it being subverted for commercial purposes.
