This chapter explores the rapidly developing policies of national and international governmental bodies relating to data and AI, the emerging resulting legislation and the ethical concerns leading to these initiatives. As policies, laws and rulings are evolving to deal with the new challenges posed by AI and the data it feeds off, this chapter presents a snapshot of the legal situation in late 2024; however, the issues underpinning policy and legislative changes are ongoing. These centre on concerns with privacy and data protection, copyright, monopolistic practices and trust as well as efforts to stimulate economic growth and international competitiveness. The chapter focuses on developments in the UK and the US as well as across the EU, which allows for policies and legislation to be compared and highlights different national concerns and priorities.

Ethical concerns

Scientific breakthroughs and new technologies have long been a source of alarm for philosophers, writers and politicians. This is particularly true where questions of what it is to be human and how far machines can replace human activities emerge. Mary Shelley's 1818 creation of the Frankenstein monster highlighted concerns emerging from the enlightenment and the move from a society based on superstition to one more founded on the principles of science (Gunkel, 2024, 3). Science fiction novels and films – from Metropolis in 1927 and Brave New World in 1932 to 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968 and Bladerunner in 1982 – developed these ideas in different and unsettling ways. While public policies and laws change fairly frequently in response to events and differing priorities, the values and ethics that underpin them are more constant.