On 5 June 2025 the ICO launched its AI and biometrics strategy. The ICO states that they are stepping up supervision in this area with a strategy which “aims to ensure organisations are developing and deploying new technologies lawfully, supporting them to innovate and grow while protecting the public.”
The ICO advises that the strategy will provide organisations with certainty and the public with reassurance by:
- reviewing the use of automated decision making (ADM) systems by the recruitment industry and working with early adopters in central government such as the Department for Work and Pensions;
- conducting audits and producing guidance on the lawful, fair and proportionate use of facial recognition technology (FRT) by police forces;
- setting clear expectations to protect people’s personal information when used to train generative AI foundation models;
- developing a statutory code of practice for organisations developing or deploying AI responsibly to support innovation while safeguarding privacy; and
- scrutinising emerging AI risks and trends, such as the rise of agentic AI as systems becoming increasingly capable of acting autonomously.
The strategy document can be found here.
