The global push to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gaining momentum, with policymakers, businesses and international bodies each seeking to strike the right balance between innovation and risk management. The UK Government’s recent announcement outlining the scope and ambition of its upcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill signals a continued rise in regulatory expectations, following a global compliance shake-up where local and often conflicting laws have been coming into force. This has been particularly prominent in Europe, where the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and Germany’s Supply Chain Act are reshaping how organisations approach risk and accountability.
Despite AI being the focal point for compliance, the evolving scope of regulatory scrutiny now extends to data privacy, bribery, corruption and supply chain. With these mounting regulatory pressures, organisations must remain compliant in a complex regulatory landscape while continuing to innovate and strengthen their digital resilience.
To stay ahead of the competition, business leaders must adopt a proactive and integrated approach to AI development and use. Strong leadership will be essential to empower employees to use AI responsibly and integrate compliance within innovation strategies. Let’s explore how organisations can navigate this shifting landscape with confidence and clarity.
Asking the right questions
Successfully managing the growing complexity of local and international AI regulation begins with asking the right questions. This step helps organisations establish adaptable policies that identify potential risk, align with ethical standards and builds resiliency in the face of regulatory change.
For the organisations best positioned to implement internal AI policies, this means asking:
- How do our AI systems protect sensitive data and ensure privacy for our users?
- What measures have been implemented to detect and mitigate biased algorithms?
- Is our AI decision-making clear and understandable to stakeholders?
- How do we manage conflicting or evolving regulations across geographies?
- Is our AI compliance programme resilient enough to cover risks across our supply chain, vendors and third parties?
- Are we training employees sufficiently to manage emerging AI ethics and compliance standards?
Embedding these questions into governance frameworks allows companies to ensure their AI initiatives align with changing regulations while also encouraging responsible and innovative AI use, ultimately enhancing customer trust and reputation.
Encouraging forward-thinking collaboration
To build a compliance programme that is both effective and adaptable, organisations must advocate for open dialogue and cross-functional collaboration. Encouraging communication across departments (including legal, compliance, IT, marketing and product management teams) about AI governance builds a more holistic understanding of the risks and opportunities AI presents. Establishing ethics boards or task forces to oversee AI deployments and regularly reviewing policies keeps governance dynamic and responsive, while internal forums for discussion and knowledge-sharing can be useful for enabling teams to interpret how global regulations apply to their specific contexts.
Collaboration should also extend beyond the business. Engaging with external stakeholders, such as AI vendors, academic experts and consultants, further strengthens governance frameworks and provides broader insights. Through a collective effort, organisations can develop AI strategies that are innovative and compliant, supporting ethical integration and building trust among stakeholders. This joint accountability ensures businesses remain resilient and well-positioned to adapt to technological advancements.
Transparency and ethics as strategic imperatives
For a business to maintain trust with its external stakeholders, transparency is key. Every employee must be encouraged to be open about how AI models are developed, tested and deployed. This requires frequent reporting and audits to evaluate the effectiveness of AI compliance programmes as well as clear communication of risks and mitigation strategies – both internally and externally – that spot potential risks at every stage.
The concern should not just be regular communication but rather what you are communicating. This level of transparency satisfies regulators and builds confidence among external stakeholders, who can be safe in the knowledge that the business is innovating responsibly. This demonstrates the awareness of potential risks and proves that measures are in place to address them.
Empowering the workforce with continuous learning
The more AI becomes embedded into business operations, the more training must evolve to meet the new demands that come with it. Organisations should assess their workforce’s AI competency with skills assessments to identify learning gaps and then tailor training to specific roles and risk profiles. Implementing role-based, activity-based, and risk-based learning ensures employees are trained with AI knowledge that is both relevant and effective for their roles.
This should be promoted through a culture of continuous learning – whereby employees and leaders alike are prompted to adapt to new and evolving technologies, methodologies and regulations. This approach enhances compliance and risk mitigation and empowers teams to drive innovation responsibly. Organisations that provide workshops, training programmes and updated industry resources will enforce a continuous learning mindset throughout their workforce – keeping them competitive, agile and prepared to tackle emerging challenges while capitalising on new opportunities.
Looking ahead: Aligning AI innovation with accountability
With new and evolving UK and EU AI laws raising regulatory expectations, AI innovation, compliance and resilience are essential for long-term success. The organisations that thrive in the AI era will be those that establish agile governance structures, build cross-functional collaboration, promote transparency and invest in role-specific training and continuous learning – thereby leading the way in navigating a changing regulatory environment.
Now is the time to reassess how well your organisation is positioned to balance these demands. Aligning your compliance efforts with innovation strategies and resilience planning will serve to future-proof your operations and build trust with employees, stakeholders and the wider community.