On 25 March 2024, the Cabinet Office published Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 02/24: Improving Transparency of AI use in Procurement.  This PPN provides guidance on the use by bidders of Artificial Intelligence in public procurements and in the delivery of government services.  In particular, it highlights the need for greater transparency from bidders regarding use of AI and enhanced due diligence where AI is used in the bidding process. The PPN applies to all Central Government Departments, their Executive Agencies, and Non-Departmental Public Bodies, with other public sector author ..read more

For the first time in history, the Czech courts have directly dealt with the issue of copyright protection for content created with the help of generative AI. In the case, the plaintiff generated an image using the program DALL-E. The prompt was to “Create a visual representation of two parties signing a business contract in a formal setting, such as a conference room or a law firm office in Prague. Show only hands.” The plaintiff subsequently placed the generated image on their website. The defendant obtained it from the plaintiff’s website and then placed it on their own. The plaintiff objec ..read more

AI is increasingly at the forefront for the insurance sector, as methods to tackle fraud, manage claims and improve customer service are developed. In terms of how these developments are addressed in the contracts that underpin such arrangements there are significant issues to bear in mind. Contracts involving AI still take the form of a technology contract under which services are being provided for specified outcomes or outputs. But there are some key concepts that warrant further consideration and that demand agility in contract drafting. With AI, we are working with complex technology that ..read more

After years of intense negotiation, EU stakeholders have finally reached political agreement on the long-awaited EU Artificial Intelligence Act (“EU AI Act“), which was first published by the European Commission (“EC“) on 21 April 2021. Following the final trilogues, the Council of the EU released the text of the final provisional agreement on 26 January 2024 (“Final Provisional Text“), and this was  endorsed by all 27 EU Member States on 2 February 2024. The torch is now passed to the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Civil Liberties Committees for adoption of the Final Provision ..read more

The sci-fi fascination with AI is well established, long in the tooth and a lazy way of looking at the opportunities (and moreover the threats) presented by AI. But perhaps these once-fantastical ideas are rapidly becoming technological reality. That legislators, including the UK’s House of Lords, are looking seriously at the implications of such technologies is a welcome preparatory action. On 21 February, 2024, the Government published its Response to a report by the House of Lords AI in Weapon Systems Committee, which advised caution in any integration of artificial intelligence in the coun ..read more

On 2nd February 2024 the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee (HoL) published its report on large language models (LLMs). That report covered a variety of topics, with attention on two in particular: what the HoL refers to as the ‘Goldilocks problem’ – or the challenges of getting the balance of investment and risk just right, especially in the context of open and closed AI models; and liability and copyright issues arising from development, training and use of LLMs. This article is the second in a two-part series. The first looked at the ‘Goldilocks problem’, and in this ..read more

While much attention has been paid to the finalisation of the EU’s AI Act in recent weeks, developments in AI continue at a frenetic rate. On 2nd February 2024 the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee (HoL) published its report on large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. That report covered a variety of topics, with particular attention on two topics: what the HoL refers to as the ‘Goldilocks problem’ – or the challenges of getting the balance of investment and risk just right, especially in the context of open and closed AI models; and copyright and liability issues ari ..read more

Ofcom has released a draft of its proposed Plan of Work for FY 2024-25 for consultation.   The proposed Plan of Work sets out Ofcom’s key priorities and work programmes for the 2024/25 financial year, and also provides an insight into key regulatory developments that will emerge or are likely to emerge over the 2024-25 financial year. Key to these priorities is the continued implementation of Ofcom’s 2022 Space Spectrum Strategy, and consideration of WRC-23 outcomes, and their impact on policies and priorities. Ofcom has already foreshadowed its likely approach to implementation of the WR ..read more

There are a multitude of cases around the world at present regarding AI created works and copyright infringement. Various of them emanate from the US, with the claimants (ranging from high profile celebrities to large publishers) alleging that their copyrighted works were used to train LLMs without permission in a way which does not fall within the remit of fair use/fair dealing. One argument goes that using copyrighted works to generate entirely new content is no different when done by a machine than when done by a human (for a practical example of that, think of how many young musical artist ..read more

The insolvency of a key supplier can have a significant (and potentially catastrophic) impact on a customer’s business. It can affect the customer’s ability to meet obligations it owes to its customers and other counterparties as well as regulatory requirements. All customers should ensure that they have robust internal processes and controls in place to monitor their supply chain risk and ensure their operational continuity. This is particularly important for customers in the financial services sector, where operational resilience is subject to increased regulatory focus.  In the current ..read more