By Tom Wilson

June 26, 2023

Online learning platform Coursera recently published the results of a survey conducted amongst UK business leaders. It paints a picture of a sector quick to adopt AI as a business tool, underpinned by a lax approach to governmental regulation. I spoke to Hadi Moussa, Managing Director of EMEA at Coursera, about the relationship between AI regulation and uptake, and where this leaves workers amidst this rapidly altering landscape.

The survey asked business leaders how or if they have been incorporating AI into their processes, and what difficulties they have faced in doing so. Summarizing the results, Hadi says:

When we ask businesses, 80% of them have already implemented generative AI in their product offering or in their business operations. And I think about 43% actually say that they use it extensively. And so that I think was kind of the first key insight. And what we are seeing and what businesses are saying in the UK, the uptake is really high. And then the second thing is I think about two-thirds believe that they would reshape their customer offering or their business operations and they're saying that will happen within the next three years.

The 80% figure seems very high, but the sentiment amongst UK business leaders seems to overwhelmingly be that generative AI adoption is a priority and they are flocking to AI to automate their processes and generate content. Similar surveys conducted in the EU report uptake to be a fraction of what is being seen in the UK. State responses to AI are under the microscope internationally and it is believed that action taken now will play a significant role in how AI shapes industries and national economies as the technology is embraced, or indeed held at arms-length, by firms across the globe. On the UK’s approach to AI regulation and how it differs from its neighbours, Moussa had this to say:

The UK is announcing a much more, I guess, a light touch approach to AI regulation, which is different from other countries… very different than what the EU is doing, for example. They are looking at much more regulation… there are benefits to having this lighter-touch approach in terms of encouraging innovation. In general, it's been welcomed by businesses in the UK and seen as a way to gain that competitive advantage in technology that will be critical for the future.

Amidst uncertain economic climates governments are vying to encourage growth in any way they can. One such way means taking a gamble on this new technology and allowing companies to embrace it relatively unfettered. Hadi Moussa was clear that well-defined principles are vital to measured success in the field of AI, however:

We've introduced AI principles, and we will use those as guidelines in terms of how we develop and implement AI systems on our platform. Just to give you a sense, the key ones are: positive impact, safety and security, fairness, transparency, accountability.

Regulation isn't an easy feat at this stage of technological development. States are grappling with the need to encourage innovation whilst ensuring workers’ livelihoods and citizens’ data are protected. Owing to the relatively nascent nature of this tech, the potential use cases are yet to be fully explored. It is difficult to regulate a tool when you are not yet certain what its applications might be. So in this instance, Hadi Moussa urges corporations to work to their own strict standards of measured yet optimistic implementation. He says this:

Figuring out this framework where businesses come together, and ally on what those principles are, is important to address some of the potential downsides…to create the awareness around the potential downsides.

Challenges

Whether the UK’s lax approach to regulation is the right call or not, we wanted to know what difficulties the companies that have chosen to implement generative AI are already facing. Of the respondents, 42% said the cost of implementation was a significant barrier to successful implementation, and just over a third (34%) cited a lack of skilled workers as an obstacle they’ve faced as they explore the role of AI in their business processes. 

The latter is where Coursera seeks to make its mark. They already offer online programs for individuals who look to improve their AI-based skills, but it is still up for debate whether this approach to the issue of skill is the correct one. There is a risk that the wrong approach to closing the skill gap will exacerbate existing obstacles to employment, and arguably if AI is to play as large a role as experts believe, governments need to invest in local and accessible solutions. Hadi Moussa says:

It's not an easy problem to solve, and it is a risk. But again, I think, for me, it really comes down to: do we have clear principles and a good regulatory framework that tries to guard against this happening because we have seen it happen in previous innovations?

What this framework looks like, however, is difficult to ascertain. In the same breath experts have praised the UK’s lax approach to AI regulation and then asserted that these theoretical frameworks are vital to the ethical implementation of artificial intelligence technology. 

My take

The UK’s approach to AI regulation has certainly won some early victories in this new tech revolution, but I worry that this early success will prove ill-considered. As tech leaders are warning of the potential risks posed by AI, will nations and corporations regret embracing it quite so wholeheartedly? Instead, perhaps a measured yet optimistic approach to AI regulation at the state level is required if we are to allow workers to upskill effectively and without hindrance based on existing obstacles. Previous technological turning-points might have taught us that there is great risk in allowing corporations to impose effective regulation upon themselves.