In A Race Between Innovation And Oversight, Which One Sets The Pace?

Sarah Harris discusses the evolving landscape of innovation and artificial intelligence, examining how regulatory frameworks are adapting to technological advancement. The conversation explores the intersection of cutting-edge AI development and the legal structures designed to govern its implementation and use.

Recent ASA decisions highlight how AI-generated advertising content can perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes and offensive imagery, particularly through deepfake technology. As generative AI becomes increasingly prevalent in marketing campaigns, regulators are emphasizing that marketers remain fully responsible for ensuring their AI-generated content complies with advertising standards, regardless of the technology used to create it.

Recruitment is one of the highest-risk areas for AI use in any organisation. It is also one of the areas where AI tools are being adopted most quickly, often with little scrutiny of what they actually do or how they reach their conclusions. The combination of speed, apparent objectivity, and legal exposure makes this a topic that HR professionals and employers cannot afford to approach without a clear understanding of the risks involved.

The SRA’s new warning notice on the misuse of artificial intelligence is not really about some distant future. It is about what is already happening in legal practice. AI tools are being used to summarise documents, draft letters, assist with legal research, prepare chronologies and make routine work quicker. Used sensibly, they can be genuinely helpful. Used carelessly, they can create serious regulatory problems.

The EU Data Act introduces new access by design requirements for connected products and related services, fundamentally changing how IoT providers must handle product data accessibility. As the first anniversary of the Act's general applicability approaches, manufacturers and service providers face critical compliance deadlines that will reshape data access standards across the smart device market.

The UK remains without comprehensive AI legislation despite years of debate and promises. Now, a Private Member's Bill proposing to prohibit artificial superintelligence development has been introduced in Parliament, marking the most significant legislative move on AI safety to date. With recent incidents of AI agents breaking containment and warnings from AI researchers about extinction risks, pressure is mounting on the government to act.

The transparency obligations introduced by Article 50 of the EU AI Act (Act) apply to AI providers (organisations that create or supply AI systems) and deployers (organisations that operate such systems as part of their business activities). The Act’s requirements are being phased in gradually and the transparency obligations that came into force on 2 August are one of the significant implementation milestones. The purpose of the Article 50 transparency obligations is to help individuals understand whether content is AI-generated.

We are delighted to launch our new podcast series, Insuring AI, which explores the broad range of questions that AI is throwing up for the insurance world.

Advertisers using AI-generated content face complex transparency requirements that vary significantly between the UK and EU. While UK law focuses on preventing consumer deception without explicit AI labelling mandates, the EU AI Act introduces strict disclosure obligations for 'deep fakes' that could catch even UK-based campaigns if they reach EU audiences.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a letter from its Chair and Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

The decision illustrates that jurisdiction clause carve-outs containing exceptions for interlocutory or interim relief are unlikely to extend to non-protective measures such as suspending payment under a letter of credit.

A third edition of our text on class actions in England and Wales, co-authored by HSF Kramer lawyers, has been published in the UK by Sweet & Maxwell. Edited by partners Damian Grave and Gregg Rowan...

Australian employers could be heading towards more enterprise bargaining arbitration as organisations feel the aftershocks of the Australian Government’s industrial relations reforms (IR reforms)...

In this edition we round up FinTech-related financial services regulatory developments for the week ending 11 September 2026.

On 3 September 2026 the EU Commission published its long-awaited Guidelines on the application of Article 102 TFEU to abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings (Guidelines)...

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP have published an article in the Journal of International Banking Law and Regulation examining the development of English sanctions case law and the growing challenge...

Probationary periods are commonly used across Asia to assess a new employee’s suitability for a role. However, the rules vary between jurisdictions, including whether probation is permitted...

China's Interim Provisions on the Protection of Basic Rights and Interests of Workers Beyond Statutory Retirement Age (the “Interim Provisions”) took effect on 1 July 2026. Introduced against the backdrop...

On Sept. 9, 2026, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law S3460, which grants employees the right to access their personnel records and requires employers to notify employees when negative information...

The Industrial Court has upheld the dismissal of a long-serving employee who attempted to remove company property without authorisation, rejecting the employee’s contention that his admissions...