Technology & Digital round-up: 21 July 2023

Read our report on the importance of in-house legal teams in digital transformation projects

• Walker Morris launched its research whitepaper Digital adoption: The transformative power of in-house legal teams. The whitepaper surveyed 500 GCs within large businesses to ascertain the priorities and challenges they have as it relates to digital transformation within their business. Click here to download the report.

The legal part…

• The Law Commission published its final report on digital assets, concluding that: our common law system is well placed to provide a coherent and globally relevant regime for existing and new types of digital asset; and the common law’s flexibility allows for the recognition of a distinct category of personal property that can better recognise, accommodate, and protect the unique features of certain digital assets. Recommendations include legislation to confirm the existence of this category and remove any uncertainty, and the creation of an industry expert panel to provide guidance on technical and legal issues.

• The European Commission adopted its adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, allowing personal data to flow freely between the EU and participating US companies, without requiring additional safeguards. Information on how to join, including helpful FAQs, can be found here.

• On the same day the FCA published its feedback statement on the potential competition impacts of Big Tech entry and expansion in retail financial services, the FCA’s Chief Executive gave a speech on the FCA’s emerging regulatory approach to Big Tech and AI.

• The FCA is consulting until 11 September 2023 on new social media guidance to clarify what it expects of firms when marketing financial products online.

• As reported previously, the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act was passed in December. Draft regulations setting out the security requirements that manufacturers, importers and distributors of consumer connectable products will have to comply with were laid before Parliament and are awaiting approval. They come into force on 29 April 2024.

• The House of Lords Library published a briefing on the development, risks and regulation of AI, while the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee launched an inquiry into large language models and what needs to happen over the next 1 to 3 years to make sure the UK can respond to their opportunities and risks.

• As the global race to regulate AI continues, China unveiled provisional rules for generative AI.

• Ofcom published an article on how it’s responding to the renewed interest in immersive technologies.

• A meeting of the Joint Fraud Taskforce discussed the development of an online fraud charter with the tech sector to respond to the growing volume of fraud originating on social media platforms.

• The Digitisation Taskforce, launched by the Chancellor last summer to drive forward modernisation of the UK’s shareholding framework, published its interim report.

• This recent briefing from Technology Disputes lawyer Louise Norbury-Robinson discusses the latest developments on electronic execution of documents.

…and in other news

• Over 1300 experts signed an open letter from BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, calling for government and industry to recognise AI as ‘a transformational force for good not an existential threat to humanity’. BCS says it supports AI regulation that’s pro-innovation and supported by measures like sandboxes, and which regulates the use of AI, not the technology itself.

• Meanwhile, Elon Musk, one of the signatories to an open letter in March which called for an immediate pause of at least 6 months in the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, launched a “pro-humanity” AI start-up as a realistic alternative to such a pause.

• The recently-appointed chair of the government’s new AI Foundation Model Taskforce told the BBC that protecting British jobs will be a challenge as AI systems become more advanced, and the whole world will have to rethink the way in which people work.

• OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced that it’s chosen London for its first international office.

• The UK’s Russell Group of universities published principles on the use of generative AI tools in education.

• It’s been reported that Jaguar Land Rover-owner Tata will build its flagship electric car battery factory in Somerset, investing £4 billion in the site.

• The government announced a £21 million fund to roll out AI across the NHS.

• The National Cyber Security Centre refreshed its guidance on managing cyber risk.

• And finally, the world’s first humanoid robot press conference took place at the UN-driven AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva. The robots were among more than 50 attending the event.

If you have queries about any of the points covered in this edition of the Technology & Digital round-up, or need further advice or assistance, please get in touch with Sally, Luke or one of our Technology & Digital experts.

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