EXPERT VIEW
ENGLAND AND INDIA
Regulate, innovate, or both? How the UK and India are responding to the AI revolution
The UK perspective: Shilpen Savani Partner gunnercooke llp T he AI landscape has changed at unprecedented pace in 2026. A year ago, the UK’s approach was one of deliberate restraint, with the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan setting out an ambitious growth agenda and Prime Minister, Starmer, framing the UK’s position as one of seizing opportunities rather than overregulating. The international context raises the stakes: President Trump’s decision on his first day back in office to revoke the Biden administration’s Executive Order on AI signals a decisive shift towards a market-led, largely unregulated environment in the United States, while the EU has moved firmly in the opposite direction. Twelve months on, these divergences cannot be ignored by any business operating across borders. Crucially, the EU AI Act is now
in force and its significance for UK businesses comes down to one straightforward reality: market access. The EU remains the UK’s largest trading partner and the Act follows the same extraterritorial logic that made GDPR a global compliance standard. Under Article 2, any provider or deployer of AI systems whose output is used in the EU falls within scope regardless of where they are established – expressly including third-country providers. A UK business whose AI system is used by EU customers, integrated into EU-regulated processes, or deployed by an EU-based subsidiary must comply because the EU demands it as a condition of doing business in the bloc. The UK’s own legislative picture remains unresolved. The Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill, which proposed a statutory AI Authority and mandatory impact assessments, was not government backed and has not progressed. The government’s preference remains for existing sectoral regulators to apply five core principles: safety and security; transparency and explainability; fairness; accountability and governance; and contestability. In principle this is sensible, but in practice, it leaves
businesses navigating a fragmented and fast-developing landscape without a map. As N V Saisunder addresses, this extraterritorial reality extends beyond UK businesses. Indian businesses expanding into the EU, or servicing UK clients with EU operations, face the same compliance obligation under the AI Act regardless of where they are based. Despite the absence of primary AI legislation, the UK’s practical environment is shifting rapidly. The Data Protection Act 2018 (Code of Practice on Artificial Intelligence and Automated Decision-Making) Regulations 2026 place the ICO under a statutory obligation to produce a code of practice on AI and automated decision- making. Simultaneously, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 has replaced the former Article 22 UK GDPR framework with a new regime, redefining when a decision is ‘solely automated’ for the purposes of the enhanced safeguards that must be applied. The Employment Rights Act 2025, which will reduce the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months, brings AI-assisted hiring, disciplinary and redundancy decisions squarely within statutory scrutiny.
N V Saisunder is a Partner at Eshwars Advocates, in Chennai, India, leading the intellectual property, media and technology law practice and with an active practice before the various High Courts in India. He is a WIPO-empanelled UDRP arbitrator, a NIXI-empanelled INDRP arbitrator and is part of IR Global’s Technology, Media and Telecom practice group in India.
Shilpen Savani is a Partner at gunnercooke LLP, specialising in employment law and dispute resolution. He advises businesses in the UK and internationally on managing legal risk, resolving disputes and challenges arising from new technology. He is a CEDR-accredited mediator and an active member of IR Global’s Employment Group.
+44 203 375 6066 shilpen.savani@gunnercooke.com irglobal.com/advisor/shilpen-savani
+91 44 42048335 saisunder@eshwars.com irglobal.com/advisor/n-v-saisunder
irglobal | 13
12 | irglobal
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker