AI guide

What is AI, and why is it so topical?

AI, at its core, is the simulation of human intelligence in machines. Recent developments have resulted in a tech shift which we have never experienced before. Read more

What is a foundation model?

Foundation models are general-purpose AI that have been trained using very large data sets to perform a wide range of tasks and have the potential to revolutionise almost every industry. Read more

Regulation of AI – introduction 

AI providers and users will be operating in an AI market regulated on a territory by territory basis while dealing with a growing and complicated web of overlapping global standards and alliances. Read more

Part 1 – AI regulation in the UK

Existing regulators will, using context-specific approaches, take the lead in guiding the development and use of AI using the five principles outlined in the AI white paper published in March 2023. Read more

Part 2 – AI regulation in the EU

The EU AI Act has entered into force on 1 August 2024. The intention is to achieve proportionality by setting the level of regulation according to the potential risk the AI can generate to health, safety, fundamental rights or the environment. Read more

Part 3 – AI regulation in the US

The US President's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence sets out eight "guiding principles and priorities", detailing how those principles and priorities should be put into effect, and reporting requirements. Read more

Part 4 – AI regulation in Asia

A light touch and voluntary approach to AI regulation is evident across much of Asia. Read more

Part 5 – AI regulation globally

A central theme is the importance of international collaboration on identifying AI safety risks and creating risk-based policies, guidelines and standards to ensure safety in light of such risks. Read more

Part 6 – practical considerations

AI focused actors and providers have been focusing on their forthcoming AI obligations and on governance for some time, but it is now prudent for the majority of organisations to turn their attention to the following practicalities. Read more

The ethics of AI – the digital dilemma

Ethical guardrails are a must in not only guiding the development and deployment of AI systems in a manner that maximises their benefits while minimising harm, but also in ensuring compliance with laws. Read more

AI and privacy – 10 questions to ask

AI models rely on processing massive data sets which will inevitably contain personal data. Businesses looking to use AI need to ensure they comply with applicable privacy laws. Read more

Generative AI – addressing copyright 

When it comes to the interaction of AI and IP rights, most attention and litigation has been focussed on copyright.  The three main issues are whether: (1) the way FMs are trained using works from the internet infringes the copyright in the works of content creators such as authors, artists and software developers; (2) the outputs of FMs infringe the copyright of content creators; and (3) AI generated works are protectable. Read more

Procuring AI – commercial considerations checklist

If you intend to procure AI for your business, what are the commercial and contracting issues that you should consider before you begin? Read more

AI-as-a-Service – Key Issues

AIaaS promises to be an easy, cost-effective way to use AI in your business, but introduces separate issues and considerations. Read more

The role of AI in disputes

Dispute resolution lawyers will be able to make use of technology that is able to independently carry out document-related tasks such as summarising documents, answering questions on a document set, categorising documents based on which issue they relate to, extracting names or figures from a document, preparing chronologies, etc. LLMs are also able to assist with drafting any kind of text with suitable prompting. Read more