Latest news with #standards
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Tory peer apologises for helping set up ministerial meeting for firm he advises
A Conservative peer has apologised for breaking the House of Lords rules by helping to secure a meeting with a minister for a Canadian company he advises. Ian Duncan, a deputy speaker of the Lords, was found to have breached the rules by providing a parliamentary service for Terrestrial Energy when he facilitated an introduction between its chief executive and a new energy minister. His conduct had been reported to the House of Lords standards commissioner following the Guardian's months-long investigation examining the commercial interests of peers. As a result of the Lords debate series, four other peers are being investigated to establish whether they breached the house's code of conduct. A fifth peer, Iain McNicol, a former general secretary of the Labour party, was required to apologise in May for breaking the rules by writing to the Treasury to promote a cryptocurrency firm that was paying him. In a report published on Friday, the standards commissioner ruled that Lord Duncan of Springbank had broken the rules which forbid peers from seeking to profit from their membership of the upper chamber. The former junior climate minister has been an adviser to Terrestrial Energy since 2020. When he first joined, he was given share options, which allow him to buy shares in the company at a preferential rate if they become profitable. The Guardian revealed that, in 2023, Duncan forwarded a letter to Andrew Bowie, the nuclear minister at the time, from Simon Irish, the firm's chief executive who wanted a meeting with the minister at short notice. The peer signed off his email 'Lord D of S'. The chief executive of the company, which is developing a new type of nuclear reactor, secured the meeting with Bowie at which he lobbied for Terrestrial Energy to be given easier access to government funding. In his response to the watchdog, Duncan said Bowie was a 'friend of long standing' who had helped him get elected as a member of the European parliament in 2014 and had then worked in his Brussels office. Duncan argued: 'It was this personal relationship, and not my membership of the upper house, nor my government service, which led Mr Irish to ask whether there was a prospect (albeit limited) that a personal request might help land a meeting during his visit.' Margaret Obi, the Lords commissioner, decided that the rule prohibiting peers from providing 'parliamentary services in return for payment or other incentive or reward' was absolute. She added: 'It did not provide an exemption in cases where there was an existing personal relationship.' She ruled: 'Although Lord Duncan stated he was not paid specifically for facilitating this introduction, he received an allocation of share options as consideration for his work for Terrestrial Energy. 'I consider that this can reasonably be understood to have been an incentive or reward for the various tasks he undertook for the company.'
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Keir Starmer to replace post-ministerial jobs watchdog with tougher regime
Keir Starmer is to abolish the independent post-ministerial jobs watchdog, which has long been criticised as 'toothless', and – for the first time – financial penalties will be imposed on those who break the rules after leaving government. As part of a standards overhaul that ministers hope will help improve public faith in the system, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) will be scrapped and a tougher regime introduced. Under the changes, which come into force from October and which the Guardian first reported last month, former ministers and senior officials found to have seriously breached the rules will be asked to repay any severance payment received. There is currently no obligation for them to follow the guidance issued by Acoba to ensure there are no conflicts of interest or that lobbying does not take place, and the body has no ability to issue punishments. Boris Johnson, the Conservative former prime minister, breached the rules on taking jobs after government on three separate occasions without facing a proper sanction, leading to calls to beef up Acoba's powers. Eligibility for ministerial severance payments will also be restricted, with those who leave office following a serious breach of the ministerial code or having served less than six months forgoing them entirely. A new independent ethics and integrity commission (EIC) will be set up to oversee standards. It will incorporate the existing Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL), set up by John Major in 1994 to advise prime ministers, and will be led by former military chief Doug Chalmers. The new body's wider remit will include a new obligation to report annually to the prime minister on the overall health of the standards system, and will engage regularly with public sector bodies to help them develop clear codes of conduct with effective oversight arrangements. It will also be expected to report in a 'reasonable timeframe' on cases after criticism that the CSPL's previous recommendations were often ignored, although there were no details of how long that might be. The EIC will have a role in improving public understanding of the ethics system. It will be responsible for convening and coordinating the different ethics bodies, formalising cooperation and the sharing of best practice. However, the Commons and Lords standards commissioners, the independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS), the independent parliamentary standards authority (IPSA) and the Electoral Commission will all remain in place. The EIC was first promised by Labour in 2021, with Starmer suggesting it would help draw a line under an era of 'Tory sleaze', and was included in the party's general election manifesto last year. However, there were concerns the plans had been kicked into the long grass. Pat McFadden, the powerful Cabinet Office minister, said: 'This overhaul will mean there are stronger rules, fewer quangos and clearer lines of accountability. The Committee on Standards in Public Life has played an important role in the past three decades. These changes give it a new mandate for the future. 'But whatever the institutional landscape, the public will in the end judge politicians and government by how they do their jobs and how they fulfil the principles of public service.' Under the plans, Acoba's functions will now be split between the prime minister's adviser on ministerial standards and the civil service commission (CSC), which has also been asked to consider how the rules could be strengthened. The CSC will also undertake regular audits of how individual government departments oversee the application of the rules for former civil servants. Boris Johnson was among several senior Conservative politicians who was found to have breached Acoba rules but faced no sanction. In August 2018, after he had quit as foreign secretary, he returned to his £275,000-a-year Daily Telegraph column despite former cabinet ministers being banned from taking up new jobs for three months after leaving office. He committed a further unambiguous breach of the rules when he failed to get permission from the ministerial appointments watchdog before taking a job as a Daily Mail columnist in June 2023, for which he was reportedly paid a 'very high six-figure sum'. He was sanctioned for a third time in April 2024, for failing to seek permission from the post-ministerial jobs watchdog before taking a role as a consultant to a hedge fund, on whose behalf he met the Venezuelan president. The severance plans are designed to restore public faith in the system after Tory ministers received thousands of pounds in payoffs after serving for just weeks in office under Johnson and Liz Truss. Under the new rules, ministers who serve less than six months will forgo severance payments entirely, and those who return to office within three months of leaving will forgo their salary until the end of that three-month period. Currently, ministers are entitled to a payoff equivalent to three months' salary when they leave office for any reason and regardless of how long they've been in the job – even if it is just a few days. Brandon Lewis was entitled to £16,876 after spending 49 days as justice secretary under Truss's premiership, while Shailesh Vara and Greg Clark were eligible for the same for their own brief stints in office during that period. Ministers have already issued a new ministerial code, given the prime minister's ethics adviser the power to initiate an inquiry without the PM's permission, and required political parties to provide public citations to say why an individual has been nominated to the House of Lords.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
IEEE Standards Commitment to Advancing AI Governance Includes Impactful Contributions to New International AI Standards Exchange
PISCATAWAY, N.J., July 11, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, and its IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) announced today that its portfolio of over 100 global AI-related standards is included in the new International AI Standards Exchange. This Exchange is a centralized repository of international AI standards with the aim to foster collaboration and responsible AI development worldwide. IEEE and its AI global standards were recognized in the 2024 United Nations AI Advisory Body's Report, Governing AI for Humanity, which created the impetus for the AI Standards Exchange. Due to its impactful AI standards and related work, IEEE, a major standards body, was included as a partner in the establishment of the Exchange. IEEE President and CEO Kathleen Kramer, who is speaking at the AI for Good Summit this year at the High-Level AI Standards Panel, shares, "IEEE's mission of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity is foundational to our institution and our communities. The work of IEEE SA illustrates how direct, inclusive collaboration throughout the global community can make a substantial impact. By having our standards included in the International AI Standards Exchange, we are reinforcing efforts to make IEEE AI standards and guidance easily discoverable and accessible to policymakers, developers, regulators, and other stakeholders seeking trusted, open, and collaborative processes and high-integrity resources to help advance globally interoperable and trusted AI systems." IEEE SA is a leader in addressing the challenges of AI and autonomous systems. IEEE SA's AI ecosystem includes ongoing groundbreaking work and programs such as: The IEEE 7000™ standards series addresses ethical and societal considerations in AI and autonomous systems, including transparency, privacy, algorithmic bias, and accountability. The Ethically Aligned Design (EAD) Framework, which has inspired global discussions on human rights and ethics in AI, informed various AI principles, including those of the OECD, as well as aspects of the UN Global Digital Compact, and continues to serve as a strong and relevant foundation as AI technologies and use evolve. IEEE CertifAIEd™, a personnel credentialing and product certification program that evaluates AI systems for transparency, accountability, and the reduction of bias, provides organizations with credible evidence of responsible AI practices. It addresses criteria including algorithmic bias, ethical transparency, privacy, and accountability, and is compatible with upcoming regulations such as the EU AI Act. This program was developed to align with global regulations being considered or implemented in the United States, China, the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions. The Technology Policy Collaborative (TPC), a program that provides collaborative spaces where government bodies and policy makers can address technology innovation and its impact and develop practically-oriented and adaptive frameworks, solutions and fresh governance approaches that can facilitate benefits of technology. "IEEE SA is a globally recognized and respected standardization body, offering multiple pathways to achieve consensus while adhering to the WTO principles," says Alpesh Shah, IEEE SA Managing Director. "A unique aspect of IEEE SA is that its collective global intelligence can be applied contextually in a national, regional, or international context. We delivered on the requested contribution to the Exchange due to the global nature of the work and its meaningful and ongoing impact, in this case, in the field of AI systems." The work of IEEE communities continues to receive recognition in the AI field. Examples include the JRC Report on AI Standardization, enablement of CertifAIEd(™) assessors to support assessment of client's AI systems, manufacturer certifications, and government and NGO training. These have coalesced to help enable the realization of the request outlined in the UN AI Governance report and offer standardization and implementation options where gaps exist. About the IEEE Standards Association IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) is a collaborative organization where innovators raise the world's standards for technology. IEEE SA provides a globally open, consensus-building environment and platform that empowers people to work together in the development of leading-edge, market-relevant technology standards, and industry solutions shaping a better, safer and sustainable world. About the IEEE IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization and is a public charity dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics. Learn more at View source version on Contacts Ravi Subramaniam, Senior Director Product, Business Development & Karen McCabe, Senior Director of Technology Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio
Forbes
6 days ago
- Forbes
New Coalition Seeks To Make AI Trustworthy, One Standard At A Time
Seeking a better AI. Artificial intelligence, now ubiquitous and cheap, is spinning out of control. It's growing increasingly difficult to identify fake images and content. It has become a breeding ground for deepfakes, erroneous manufactured content, and issues around bias, intellectual property theft, and hallucinations. This may destroy trust in all images and content produced by even the most legitimate sources. Standards may offer a way through this – with watermarking, digital verification, and traceability that can help sort what is real from the fakery. At the same time, attempting to assign standards to today's emerging AI systems and their many vendors may be akin to herding cats – the market is extremely diverse, still relatively immature, and evolving in new directions every few months. At the recent UN 'AI for Good" Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, I had the opportunity to discuss the latest initiatives to rein in AI's chaos with Philippe Metzger, secretary-general and CEO of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). His organization, historically known for creating standards around electricity usage and a host of other day-to-day modern services, is teaming up with other international standards bodies to form the AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards Collaboration (AMAS). Other participants include the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Categories of standards under development within AMAS include content provenance, trust and authenticity, asset identifiers, and human rights declarations. The first foundational standard, covering AI trustworthiness, was published in 2020, providing guidelines for assessing the reliability and integrity of AI systems. Earlier this year, IEC and ISO published the first part of a new JPEG Trust series of international standards for media, including video and audio -- a key weapon against the rise of deepfakes and images. Recently enacted additional standards seek to help build trust in digital media and AI, include JPEG Trust Part 1, which focuses on trust and authenticity in JPEG images through provenance, detection and fact-checking, and content credentials. Standards now being developed in the pipeline include digital watermarking, trust guidelines, and a framework for authentication of multimedia content. While all the standards proposed or created are voluntary, Metzger says market pressures may help ensure conformity. 'None of these standards are mandatory, and that's not going to change. That's core DNA of what we do and stand for.' Conforming to emerging AI standards comes in at least three forms: adapting to market forces, formal assessments conducted by IEC, and government mandates. 'It's fine to have a standard, but if nobody tells you that you're living up to that standard, well probably the effect is going to be very, very limited," he said. Ability to show adoption of standards may help companies integrate with broader ecosystems, as well as show consumers they are keeping up. 'To have fair dealings, fair trade, and fair exchanges, you need a reference point,' said Metzger. Formal assessments can come in the form of ad-hoc audits, he explained. For example, IEC launched a new service that offers conformity assessments on quality and carbon footprints. 'All these companies make big claims: 'our product is super green, with minimal CO2, etc.'' Those companies that have their adherence to standards assessed can show third-party verification, he said. Expect this to be applied to AI quality standards as well. A big question is whether standards bodies – which deliberately move slowly as they are consensus based, can keep up with the fast-moving world of AI. For example, agentic AI only first started percolating less than a year ago, yet now consumes development activity. By next year at this time, some other new variation of AI may be roiling the landscape. 'The speed is really a challenge,' said Metzger. 'How quickly can we address these dimensions, and how many dimensions are there if they're growing so quickly.' While IEC committees are already working on standards for agentic AI, such development goes through processes. 'There are some arrangements where you can get to not fully baked standards," he pointed out. 'Of course, there are forces, science and market drivers which run very fast," Metzger pointed out. "But I tend to be more optimistic than pessimistic. There is new technology which will change quickly. But fundamentally, there is also some auto-corrective mechanisms built into society, including governance systems, where developments will meet resistance at different levels, through different channels, by different stakeholders.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Woman Told Friend in Bad Marriage ‘I Don't Want to End Up Like You' After Friend Told Her to ‘Lower' Her Standards
The woman, who shared her story on Reddit, said the friend is married to a man who "doesn't respect" herNEED TO KNOW A woman recently told a friend, 'I don't want to end up like you' after the friend told her to 'lower' her standards with men She went on to say that the friend is in a bad marriage with an unpleasant man The friend is no longer speaking to her, and the woman is now unsure if she did the right thingA woman recently told a friend, 'I don't want to end up like you' in the middle of an argument, and she's wondering if she crossed a line. The 22-year-old detailed her story on the 'Am I the A------?' forum on Reddit, a place where people can go to get input and advice on interpersonal issues. In her post, the woman said that she befriended a woman named Rachel three years ago when they were both in college. Rachel met a guy named Max two years ago, and they 'quickly began dating.' 'He isn't the most pleasant guy to be around in my opinion,' the woman admitted, adding that 'they had quite a few big arguments during the relationship.' 'He even tried to flirt with me, and I told Rachel about it, but she dismissed it, saying he was probably just trying to butter me up so I [would] help him with homework,' she continued. 'He has told some sexist jokes in the past, too. Whenever they fought, I always told Rachel she deserves better and to break up with him, but in the end they always made up.' The Reddit user said that Rachel and Max got married four months ago, and that Max 'became even worse' in that time. 'He never helps out with cleaning or cooking, doesn't really take Rachel out on dates anymore, and whenever she tries to talk to him about it, Max tells her to stop complaining about 'wife's duties,' ' the woman explained. The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! She went on to say that Rachel recently asked her if she'd like to go on a date with a guy she knew from high school who recently became single. The woman — who said she has always been single and is very content on her own — agreed to the outing. 'I've never been on a date before, so I agreed out of curiosity,' she explained. However, the date was a bust. 'We went to a nice restaurant. The guy never asked me a single question about myself [...] and after I got tired of coming up with questions about him, we just sat the rest of the meal in awkward silence. We split the bill, and after he walked me to the subway station, he tried to kiss me. I declined as politely as I could and went home,' she recalled. The Redditor said that Rachel confronted her about the date the following day and asked why she 'rejected' the guy. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 'I told her the reasons,' the woman said, at which point Rachel, 'rolled her eyes and said that I need to lower my standards because I'm honestly not that attractive, that I blew maybe my only chance to date and if I continue like that I'll end up forever alone.' The woman said she 'got angry' and ultimately told Rachel, "Better to be forever alone than end up like you, with a husband that doesn't respect me.' She said that Rachel started crying and claimed she was only trying to 'look out' for her — and added that they haven't texted or spoken since. 'Honestly, I'm not sure if I want to salvage this friendship after finding out this is how Rachel felt about me all this time,' she reflected. 'However, I feel guilty for saying this to her when I knew it was a sore spot, and also for kinda blaming her for the fact that her husband is awful.' 'So, AITA [am I the a------] in this situation?' she asked at the end of the post. The woman's fellow Redditors were quick to tell her that she was in no way wrong to assert herself in this specific situation. 'NTA [not the a------] AT ALL,' one person said. 'Good for you for sticking to your standards, you have a good head on your shoulders. Keep up the great work!' 'She is in a toxic relationship and she knows it,' another Redditor said. 'She might be jealous of you as well — your confidence and self-worth. Don't get dragged down into the dirt.' Several others said that they thought the woman should seriously consider whether the friendship is worth maintaining. 'This isn't a friend. This is a deeply damaged person with low self-esteem who wants to make you as miserable in a relationship as she is so that she can commiserate with you. Honestly, I'd slowly exit this 'friendship.' Sometimes you outgrow your friends and need to leave them behind so they don't keep you there with them,' one person said. 'Please distance yourself from her or anyone who reasons like her,' agreed someone else. Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
