Online safety roundup
The UK government has announced that it will ban social media for under 16s, in line with a growing number of jurisdictions placing restrictions on social media use by children since Australia took the first step in December 2025. The move was widely anticipated following the publication of a consultation and…
Online safety roundup
The social media ban for under 16s which came into force in Australia at the tail end of 2025 appears to have opened the floodgates to similar regulations being planned across the world, including in the UK (although the initial Lords proposal has been voted down by MPs). Following are some…
For more than two decades, the legal world has celebrated a major achievement: open access to law. Judgments are available online. Legislation is searchable. The idea that primary legal materials should be publicly available on the internet is no longer controversial in most jurisdictions. But availability is not the same as usability.
A database full…
A brief history
Section 230 of the US Communications Act of 1934, enacted as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, is fundamental to the commercial development of the internet over the past 30 years. It has been called “the 26 words that made the Internet” – referring specifically to…
Cybersecurity regulations
Possibly in response to the bailout of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) which suffered a debilitating cyberattack earlier this year, the government has progressed its Cyber Security and Resilience Bill. It will mandate critical national infrastructure providers – such as hospitals, energy and water suppliers – with ensuring a minimum level of standards…
A new humanoid robot called Neo, designed to help out with household chores and available to order for $20,000, has received a lot of press attention recently. Although delivery is expected as early as 2026, the current prototype is not fully automated, relies on a human “teleoperator” (coincidentally called Turing) wearing a VR headset, and…
The exponential expansion of artificial intelligence across professional and personal spheres has inevitably led to its integration into human resources and recruitment functions. Research commissioned by ACAS indicates growing acceptance among employers, with approximately one-third of UK businesses surveyed believing AI deployment will enhance productivity.
AI’s capability to enhance efficiency and streamline administratively intensive tasks…
AI hallucinated case law
In the recent case of Ayinde v Haringey [2025] EWHC 1383 (Admin), Dame Victoria Sharp, President of the King’s Bench Division of the High Court, issued a stark warning to lawyers that they have a “professional duty” to ensure that fictitious case citations “hallucinated” by generative AI (GenAI) tools do…
As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) software is increasingly foisted upon both private and public sector workforces, with the now familiar mantra of “boosting productivity”, many lawyers have attempted to harness some of the tools for legal research. In this article we consider the scale of the uptake and identify some of the risks, alongside expert…
It’s coming up to three years since ChatGPT was released to the public in November 2022. In April 2024, we considered the impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on professional writers; the “double whammy” of having their copyright material used for training LLMs (without receiving payment) whilst being made redundant as a result…
