The legal part…

• The landmark EU AI Act is now expected to come into force in August 2024. Crucially, UK businesses may be caught if they deploy AI in the EU. See our recent overview insight. This is the first in a series of snapshot articles to help affected businesses prepare.
• In related news, the European Commission’s newly-launched AI Office will play a key role in implementation of the EU AI Act. The Commission is currently consulting until 13 September 2024 on AI in the financial sector.
• The Labour Party said in its manifesto that regulators are currently ill-equipped to deal with the dramatic development of new technologies. It plans to create a new Regulatory Innovation Office, bringing together existing functions across government, and to introduce binding regulation on companies developing the most powerful AI models. Watch this space.
• The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill failed to progress due to the general election. It now remains to be seen how data protection law may develop in the next Parliament.
• The Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill suffered the same fate. This was a private member’s bill and not a planned piece of government legislation.
• In contrast, the long-awaited Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act was finally passed. Among other things, the Act will significantly expand the Competition and Markets Authority’s powers to enforce consumer protection laws, allowing it to impose fines of up to 10% of worldwide group turnover on businesses breaking the rules. Please contact Competition Partner Sarah Ward if you have any questions about the Act and how it may affect you.
• The CMA published an update on its public cloud infrastructure services market investigation.
• The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled that a £multibillion digital advertising claim against Google can proceed as a collective action.
• A recent decision is the first in which a court has found drones to be causing trespass.
• Back to Europe, and the European Commission made a preliminary finding that Apple’s App Store rules are in breach of the new Digital Markets Act. It’s also now looking into concerns surrounding Apple’s new contractual requirements for third-party app developers and app stores.
• In related news, the Commission informed Meta of its preliminary findings that its ‘pay or consent’ advertising model fails to comply with the DMA.
• Meta ended up delaying plans to train its large language models (generative AI) using public content shared by adults on Facebook and Instagram, in response to requests from European data regulators and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office.
• And over in the US, major record labels are suing 2 AI music-generating startups for mass copyright infringement in potentially landmark cases.

…and in other news

• Michael Cordeaux, Senior Associate in our Regulatory & Compliance team, shared his insights on the growing trend of AI claims in advertising in this recent BBC article on ‘AI washing’.
• Recent research into the impact of digital noise in the workplace found that nearly half of all employees are distracted at least once every 30 minutes, and almost a third report being distracted at least once every 15 minutes by a workplace notification.
• This article highlights the growing trend of ‘cloud repatriation’, where companies are bringing data or workloads back from the cloud citing reasons such as cost savings and security concerns.
• A recent study on the public’s use of generative AI found that frequent use of ChatGPT – by far the most widely recognised product – is rare, with just 2% using it on a daily basis here in the UK.
• The billion pound development of a new innovation district in Cheltenham, including a National Cyber Innovation Centre, received a boost after securing £20 million in Levelling Up funding. It’s expected to open in late 2026.
• With rising concerns over the impact of AI use on the environment, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that AI will help rather than hinder meeting climate targets.
• And finally, bacon ice cream anyone? McDonald’s ended its trial of AI-powered ordering tech in US drive-through restaurants after customers’ misinterpreted orders included bacon-topped ice cream and hundreds of dollars’ worth of chicken nuggets.

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 or one of our Technology & Digital experts.

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