Business leaders outline five ways regulation can guide AI innovation

Business leaders told ZDNET that rules and regulations can help guide AI innovation as governments and agencies move to protect individuals and data, citing high-profile efforts such as the EU's AI Act and a Bird & Bird AI Horizon Tracker that analyzes 22 jurisdictions. Executives offered five practical approaches.

Art Hu, global CIO at Lenovo, recommended exploring AI within constraints using whitelists and sandboxing. Paul Neville of the UK’s The Pensions Regulator said working closely with government and other partners can align legislation with modern digital services and new customer experiences.

Martin Hardy of Royal Mail urged using AI to handle routine work so specialists can focus on bespoke threats, while warning that concentrating data in models creates new risks. Ian Ruffle of RAC emphasised culture and strong relationships with data protection and security teams to keep humans involved.

Erik Mayer of Imperial College warned that "if you over-clean data, you're probably going to bias the AI," and advised keeping the rawest form of data, documenting any transformations, and maintaining ongoing validation and clear KPIs around data quality. The leaders noted that responses will vary across industries and governments and that compliance can be a guide rather than a hindrance.

Key Topics

Tech, Ai Governance, Ai Act, Lenovo, Royal Mail, Imperial College