Technology & Digital round-up: September 2026

With so much to talk about already, we’re sticking with the one top story that’s been dominating the headlines this month:

UK positions itself as ‘honest broker’ in global AI regulation debate

The increasingly intense debate around the dangers of AI and how to effectively regulate it went into overdrive after a researcher at Anthropic warned that AI is advancing so quickly he believed there was a more than 10% chance the technology could wipe out humanity within the next decade.

Since the Burnham government abolished DSIT in July, there have been few indications of where AI regulation is heading. Then, in a speech to the Trade Union Congress 2026, the First Secretary of State said that “we should heed the warnings of those who are at the forefront of developing this technology. There are clearly huge risks to our national security and society if the right guardrails are not put in place“. A few days later, King Charles warned AI executives of the existential danger of the technology falling into the wrong hands.

With the US and China locked in an AI race, it’s unsurprising that the US is resisting calls to slow down AI development and put in place some kind of global governance structure, although Donald Trump has talked about creating an AI Force and AI tsar to monitor the technology, which he has renamed ‘Super Intelligence’.

In his recent speech at the UN General Assembly, the UK PM described how the country will step into the role of ‘honest broker’, bringing people together in a divided world, starting with frontier AI which he described as “one of the most significant challenges and opportunities of our age“. The UK will put AI at the heart of its G20 Presidency next year and work towards agreeing a single set of global principles and standards. Domestically, new laws will be brought forward if that’s what’s needed to protect people. Watch this space.

In other developments:

• The PM confirmed that the UK is developing a new AI defence partnership with the US to protect our critical national infrastructure.
• Security chiefs will begin work on a new National Centre for Information Defence – to combat hostile state information attacks that we and our allies have been subjected to on an industrial scale.
• In a new report, the Joint Committee on Human Rights called for a wide-ranging AI Bill to address the scale and seriousness of threats posed to human rights by AI systems.

More legal and regulatory developments…

• In the financial services sector, the Financial Conduct Authority published insights for firms on how frontier AI may affect cyber resilience, governance and vulnerability management. It highlights key questions for firms to consider.
• The Governor of the Bank of England and Financial Stability Board Chair Andrew Bailey warned that, for the financial system, the most immediate concern is the potential impact of frontier AI on cyber risk.
• The FCA published final guidance for firms on when cryptoasset activities need FCA authorisation, ahead of the new regulatory regime coming into force in October 2027.
• Ofcom is launching engagement on the role of AI in cyber defence. Insights from a series of discussions in autumn 2026 will inform Ofcom’s understanding of how emerging AI technologies interact with existing cybersecurity principles and regulatory requirements.
• See our recent comment and opinion piece for practical steps organisations operating across healthcare, care homes and retirement living can take to close the AI gender gap.
• In related news, an independent Commission published recommendations on a future regulatory framework for AI in healthcare.
• The ICO has now transitioned to the Information Commission, a new governance model with non-executive and executive members and with collective responsibility for decision making. The regulator confirmed that it will continue to be known as the ICO – the Information Commission’s Office.
• The ICO’s CEO published a blog post on the debate around smart glasses and other AI-enabled wearable devices and enabling technology for good.
• The Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee introduced a private members’ bill to regulate software or algorithms which use or hold personal data for the purpose of modelling the preferences or behaviours of a person, known as ‘digital twinning’.
• In the absence of AI-specific legislation, the Committee of Advertising Practice published guidance on how its code applies to ads for AI assistant products.

…and in other news

• The National Cyber Security Centre published a blog post on the hidden risks of shadow AI and how understanding why staff use unapproved AI tools is key to managing the security challenges they can create.
• The NCSC is warning organisations that use, deploy or maintain operational technology systems that they should treat increased targeting of such systems seriously and review their security posture.
• The government published an AI risk management toolkit to help anyone involved in AI projects understand, assess and manage risks when designing, procuring or delivering AI products.
• The City of London Police published its first Report Fraud annual assessment, providing a strategic overview of the cybercrime and fraud threats reported nationally. A key theme is the increasing role of technology, in particular AI, in enabling offending.
• The government responded to a petition calling for a moratorium on AI data centres and battery energy storage systems outside AI ‘growth zones’, saying that it won’t pause such approvals as they’re vital for growth and 2030 clean energy targets.
• As reported in The Guardian, Citizens Advice is urging providers of essential services to stop relying on AI chatbots, after research found that they ‘wasted time, caused stress and delayed problem solving for more than half of users’.
• The government announced a new space strategy to bolster UK defences against threats from space. Check out our Defence sector webpage to find out more about the commercial legal support we can provide. You can read our latest insight on Defence Cyber Certification here.
• And finally, a UK company is the first to send a robotic boat across the Atlantic entirely unaided.