Long Read: The Second Wave Hits: Why the EU AI Act just might become the global standard for AI regulation
The Regulatory Watershed Moment for General-Purpose AI
The European Union’s AI Act reached a pivotal milestone on 2 August 2025, marking the commencement of binding obligations for providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) models. This “second wave” of the AI Act represents far more than a regulatory compliance exercise: it constitutes the establishment of what is likely to become the global framework for AI governance, with profou…
Long Read: Developing AI? How UK National Security laws could damage your exit
The National Security & Investment Act: the hidden risk in transactions involving cutting-edge creative tech companies.
You’re embracing “Createch” and have built an AI-powered creative business. Maybe it’s a generative design platform, a machine-learning music composition tool or a data-driven content recommendation engine.
You’ve secured seed investment, grown your team, and now you’re ready for th…
Long Read: AI Geopolitics: How Washington and Beijing are reshaping your business
The race for AI supremacy just took a decisive turn. Within the last week, the world’s two largest economies have unveiled radically different visions for artificial intelligence governance. UK businesses now face a strategic choice that will define their competitive position for years to come.
America’s Deregulatory Gambit
President Trump’s Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan, launched on 23 July 2025, reads lik…
Long Read: Big Tech vs Creators: whose side is the UK Government on when it comes to AI?
Last week, when the Government announced its expert working groups on AI and copyright, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle confirmed he was “determined to harness expert insights across the debate“. Many artists and creators were quick to voice their concerns, seeing the groups as designed to legitimise what they’ve long argued amounts to state-sanctioned intellectual property theft: allowi…
Long Read: A Tale of Two Industries – Film & TV Production in the UK
Film and television production in the UK has been a success story built over decades and, despite various risks and challenges, the production industry continues to be a vibrant, essential part of the UK economy. Recently, published figures revealed that UK production spend on feature films nearly tripled in the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the same period in 2024.
There have been numerous extraneous threat to the UK’s production pr…
Long Read: Banned Snacks and Brand Hack: How will the new “Less Healthy” Products Regime affect Food and Drink Advertising?
New legislation, effective 5 January 2026, but with voluntary compliance from 1 October 2025, will further restrict advertising of foods high in fat, salt, or sugar (“HFSS”) with the introduction of a new category of “Less Healthy” food and drink products (“LHP”). Advertising of LHP will be banned on TV (5:30am–9pm) and in all paid online ads targeting UK users. Brand advertising is intended to still be all…
Long Read: Can You Guess The Song? Budweiser’s Controversial Cannes Lions Grand Prix Win
Budweiser has landed itself in hot water for its recent award winning ad campaign which featured some of the “world’s most iconic songs” with reportedly “$0 spent on music rights”.
The ad in question, created by agency Africa Creative DDB, won a prestigious Cannes Lions Grand Prix award and included one-second snippets of popular songs from artists such as The Beatles, Beyonce and Taylor Swift, encouraging fans to gu…
Long Read: Tattle has been rattled – What now after the gossip website’s operator has been revealed?
In Sands & Anor v Bond & Ors [2023] NIKB 134, the Court in Northern Ireland ordered that the operator of the notorious gossip forum, Tattle Life, pay a couple £300,000 in libel damages. This has far-reaching consequences and potentially opens the floodgates for similar actions to be brought elsewhere by other influencers/celebrities who have been aggrieved by harmful activity on online forums.
The Rise of Tattle Life
Tattle Life is a se…
Long Read: OpenAI acquires Jony Ive’s io – but what has it actually bought?
OpenAI has just done something profoundly un-OpenAI: it’s bought a hardware company. The announcement that it has acquired io – the secretive design venture set up by Jony Ive and backed by SoftBank – reads like a love letter to possibility more than a straight M&A move. But behind the gloss and lofty promises, what has OpenAI actually bought?
The answer isn’t a product – at least not yet. Io hasn’t released a…
Long Read: Defaming the Dead
In October 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) published its decision in ML v Slovakia 34159/17 (14 October 2021) which appears to challenge the long-standing principle that you cannot defame the dead.
The facts of the case
The applicant (a mother) brought the case following distressing newspaper coverage of her late son. The original action was for protection of her integrity and post-mortem protection of her s…