Can the UK Become Competitive on Text-and-Data Mining for AI?

Data is the raw resource upon which AI is trained, and the regulations for how data can be used will have significant consequences for the roll out and quality of AI. There is currently a great deal of legal uncertainty about commercial text-and-data mining (TDM) in the UK, and other countries have moved faster than the UK at securing the legal foundations for training AI.

In this short paper, Dr Anton Howes explains what approaches are being taken with regards to TDM around the world, and what British policymakers could learn from them in order to ensure the UK is a competitive place for AI to be developed.

Blueprint for a New Great Exhibition

Exhibitions of industry have a long and successful history of being used by policymakers to showcase and inspire innovation. Recent attempts to replicate such exhibitions, however, have not always lived up to their goals – and have been far removed from the momentous success of events such as the Great Exhibition of 1851. 

In Blueprint for a New Great Exhibition, Dr Anton Howes explains the background of exhibitions of industry, and how we might feasibly and successfully organise a new one for the modern day, to display and encourage future innovation. 

What Applied Learning Really Looks Like

Applied learning provides opportunities for young people to use their classroom learning in real-life, practical situations. This not only helps reinforce the learning but also enhances its relevance to young people, who can begin to appreciate how that learning can support future careers and life goals.

In What Applied Learning Really Looks Like, published in partnership with Young Enterprise, Anton Howes highlights several successful case studies to show teachers and policymakers what applied learning actually looks like in practice – particularly in cases where time and resources are limited. The report sets out concrete examples of applied learning in action to inspire teachers and help them articulate their vision to colleagues, managers, and parents, as well as how headteachers and senior leadership teams can support them.

Fixing Copyright

Unlike other intellectual property rights, copyrighted works enjoy extraordinary privileges, and the advent of recent technological changes is now making it significantly easier for rightsholders to identify infringers and threaten them with prosecution. 

In Fixing Copyright, Anton Howes explains how the current copyright regime could have a chilling effect on the encouragement of creative work, and entrepreneurship more generally. He makes a series of recommendations which would strike a better balance between protecting individuals’ work while ensuring that creative freedoms prevail.