The Collective insights

With tech leaders publicly urging a slowdown in AI development until adequate safety guardrails are in place, the question is no longer whether artificial intelligence needs governing - but how, and how to do it well.

Good AI governance may not be glamorous, but it could determine which organisations make the most of AI. That was one of the key messages from Kate Jones, CEO of the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF), in her keynote speech at our recent AI Agenda conference.

In September, we hosted AI Agenda 2026, bringing together senior leaders, legal experts and innovators to explore what it takes to adopt AI safely, strategically and at scale. The conversation has moved beyond what AI might do to how organisations are actually using it, and this edition reflects the themes and discussions that emerged throughout the day.

Despite its reputation for softness, a particular kind of optimism is the most useful thing a leader can bring to bear in times of uncertainty. 

As organisations move from AI experimentation to implementation, the questions they face are equally changing: decisions about which tools to test or where AI might create efficiencies quickly become questions about how work should be organised, who should make decisions, where accountability sits and how people experience the change. At the same time, the longer-term impact of AI on jobs, skills and organisational structures remains uncertain, leaving leaders with important choices about how that transformation should unfold.

Much of the debate about AI and work has traditionally focused on capability: what the technology can do, which tasks it can automate and how quickly organisations can adopt it. But as organisations move from adoption to embedding, and from pilots to integration, the most important questions are shifting from what AI can do to what organisations choose to do with it. 

A new state-backed fund promises capital, supercomputing power, and fast-tracked visas for AI start-ups. Here is what leaders need to know.

Until now, corporate criminal liability in England and Wales has been notoriously hard to pin on a company itself. Prosecutors had the tough job of proving that the individuals representing the “directing mind and will” of the company intended the wrongdoing. If anything, that meant blame often “rolled downhill”: an individual got charged, the company walked away, and the corporate culture that produced the conduct was never on trial.

Intellectual property has long been recognised as a critical business asset, but the way organisations think about IP, and the expectations placed on those responsible for it, are changing. For many businesses, IP strategy is no longer something that sits quietly in the background until a filing deadline, dispute or transaction arises. Instead, it is becoming a visible part of how leadership teams think about growth, brand investment and risk.

For many years, the gender gap has been discussed primarily through the language of equality, representation and fairness. While these remain essential values, they no longer capture the full scale of what is at stake.

At the end of April, Lewis Silkin hosted the GALA Global Conference in London, bringing together nearly 200 advertising lawyers from around the world.

At a time when commercial strategy and legal reality don’t always sit in the same conversation, the organisations making the strongest decisions are those deliberately bringing them together. In this edition, we explore some of the forces reshaping how businesses protect value, drive growth and navigate change.

Businesses are striving to balance short‑term budgetary pressures and the longer‑term imperative to build resilient, sustainable real estate portfolios. The answer is to treat environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities and climate resilience as core value drivers, rather than discretionary spend, a ‘nice to have,’ or a nod to the corporate’s green agenda.

Lewis Silkin’s Future @ Work 2026 report explores how organisations are navigating an era defined by accelerating uncertainty: rapid advances in AI, geopolitical instability, regulatory fragmentation, demographic shifts and changing workforce expectations are profoundly reshaping today’s business environment. As a result, uncertainty for senior leaders has become a permanent strategic condition.

This year, it’s one hundred years since one of Ernest Hemingway’s characters asked, “how did you go bankrupt?” The answer: “two ways” – “gradually and then suddenly.” This exchange from one of Hemingway’s classic novels sums up how change can creep up on us. And then suddenly, without warning, everything changes overnight.

From Agentic AI reshaping core business operations to regulators tightening their grip on digital platforms, the pace of change is accelerating. What should tech leaders, boardrooms, and in-house counsel be watching in 2026? Here are the trends and developments that will define the year ahead.

How do organisations align technical teams, legal experts and business leaders to create effective AI governance and responsible deployment without slowing down innovation or effective decision-making?

2026 has arrived with momentum. The pace of technological, regulatory and organisational change shows no sign of slowing, and for businesses navigating this landscape, adaptability and foresight have never been more essential.

Rupam Davé and Scott Foster from Lewis Silkin’s DCC and IP teams hosted a lively session at xCHANGE 2025 with Tobias Hooton of Stelia AI, Gabe Pereyra from Harvey AI, and Carolyn Jameson from Airalo. The discussion was a fascinating exploration of how to seize opportunities through innovation, with the panellists offering their insights into the future of AI and the ever-shifting landscape of technology.

At xCHANGE 2025, we heard from Jacqueline de Gernier (GWI), James Greenfield (Koto), Chris Macfarlane (Peloton) and Faye Cottingham (Bacardi-Martini), in a broad-ranging discussion moderated by our own Duran Ross and Francesca Ainsworth. Together, they explored how businesses can make agility and resilience core capabilities, as well as utilising AI and market knowledge, to maximise opportunity in a fragmented world.