AI Watch

The UK government is considering tougher regulations on AI chatbots over concerns they may expose children to harmful content or encourage self-harm. Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, told MPs that she is “especially worried” about the risk to young people forming unhealthy relationships with generative AI tools. 

Is the music industry re-thinking its approach to artificial intelligence? Against the backdrop of a settled copyright infringement claim, the recently reported deal struck between Warner Music Group (“Warner”) and AI song generator Suno – together with several similar licensing deals emerging across the creative sector – may signal a shift towards licensing of rights for AI training and outputs. 

As highlighted in our recent Law-Now, the European Commission took a significant step on 19 November 2025 by publishing the Digital Omnibus on AI (the “Omnibus”) (Digital Omnibus on AI Regulation Proposal | Shaping Europe’s digital future) – a legislative package aimed at refining, simplifying, and realigning selected provisions of the AI Act. As part of our AI Watch series, we will be looking at each of the key parts of the Omnibus, and what these mean in practice.

Last week, a digitally altered image showing severe damage to the Carlisle rail bridge caused disruption to rail services. Shared on social media, the image  prompted emergency inspections and delays to over 30 services, only for engineers to confirm that the bridge was intact. The image’s precise origin remains unverified, but it is suspected to be AI-generated. No formal investigation has yet been opened.

On 2 August 2025, the EU AI Act’s new obligations for general-purpose AI models officially came into force, accompanied by guidelines from the European Commission. But here’s the catch: as Melissa Hopkins’ article for Tech Policy explains, while the Act explicitly emphasises biosecurity, the guidelines primarily focus on language and multimodal generators, potentially leaving biological AI models (BAIMs) in a regulatory blind spot.

The UK Government recently published a Policy Paper on ‘Delivering AI Growth Zones’  with the aim of rapidly expanding the UK’s AI data centre capacity and securing its leadership in AI.  

AI is powering incredible innovation, but it’s also enabling harm. The UK government has announced new legislation to tackle the growing threat of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Under the proposals, AI developers and government-designated child-protection organisations would be able to test and scrutinise AI models for CSAM-related vulnerabilities, ensuring child-safety protections are built in from the start.

On 17 November 2025, CMS representatives joined the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence at the House of Lords to explore how government and industry advisors are shaping the future of AI. The discussion tackled critical questions around cultural nuances in mental health assessments, the rise of sovereign AI compute, and striking the right balance in regulation. Below, you will find a summary of the key insights from this thought-provoking session.

Fresh data reveals how deeply the UK government is investing in artificial intelligence. Drawing on departmental disclosures and central initiatives, the numbers tell a clear story: AI is no longer a side project – it is a strategic priority. This surge in public spending mirrors the UK’s position as the world’s third largest AI market, valued at a staggering £73.3bn in 2024.

Roughly a quarter of survey respondents say their company is scaling at least one agentic system - systems that can plan multi-step tasks and act in the real world. Results of the survey on the State of AI in 2025 from McKinsey

The European Commission has set a new cadence for AI governance and innovation, pairing practical compliance tools with a strategic investment in science. 

A leaked European Commission working draft proposes a targeted “Digital Omnibus on AI” designed to simplify and stabilise implementation of the AI Act, without it claims lowering protections. The proposal seeks to align timelines, streamline governance, and rationalise procedures. The key points are set out below.

The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation  (CENELEC) have adopted exceptional measures to accelerate the development of key AI standards underpinning the EU AI Act.