Artificial intelligence has already had a powerful impact across society, transforming industries and reshaping the way we work. It has become a major talking point, and it has started to have an impact on the work many of us do. As AI becomes more powerful and better understood, it will take a more central role in many parts of our lives and have an even greater role in shaping the future of work, innovation and human interaction.
The challenge of AI regulation
That is why governments around the world are developing regulations that will assert some form of control over the use of AI. A challenge that people in business face today is to understand how much control different governments think is necessary. Some will go for a light touch, while others will take a stronger view. Understanding these differences will be crucial for organisations looking to innovate while remaining compliant.
Striking the right balance in AI regulation is crucial. Light-touch regulation could result in AI being used in ways that are not desirable for the majority of people, while too much control could stifle innovation. This is a really critical point because we can be sure that AI is going to be incredibly important in almost every aspect of work in the next decade. Companies need to be able to apply AI in the way that brings them the greatest benefit.
There’s also a difference between companies that will use AI to boost the productivity of their employees and their factories and those companies that will be developing AI tools for businesses to buy and use. And some of those AI tools will go into particularly critical industries, such as defence or government. That’s why creating the right legislation is a challenge.
The UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan
The UK Government launched its AI Opportunities Action Plan in January, and it stated that AI can boost growth, provide jobs for the future and improve people’s everyday lives. These three ambitions align closely to how we at Bosch develop products and services for our customers around the world. We also agree that these are desirable outcomes that the successful deployment of AI will help to realise.
Bosch’s use of AI in industry and business
At Bosch, we use AI to check the quality of components as they roll off production lines and we use AI to optimise the manufacturing process of some of our products. AI is able to point out improvements to the flow of a production process to reduce waste or to allow higher levels of quality control. At Bosch, every product is designed, manufactured or uses AI in its operation. That also means we can share our own experiences with AI with our customers.
We also leverage AI internally, including ROB, a generative AI-powered HR assistant that streamlines support for Bosch associates worldwide. ROB enables self-service interactions, guiding employees through HR processes, answering policy-related questions and recognising when human assistance is needed. Beyond HR, AskBosch, an internal AI-powered search engine, enhances communication and knowledge-sharing across the company. These tools have shown us first-hand how AI has the potential to transform internal processes – making them simpler, faster, more efficient and always accessible.
To help us get to this stage we established a form of legislation at Bosch. Our AI Code of Ethics was written in 2020. It has five points, which include developing products with a sense of social responsibility and that AI should be a tool for people to use rather than something that takes the human out of the equation. This structure provides guidance and control to Bosch’s AI research and it’s important that businesses have this internal structure in place when they’re using AI. It should complement the government’s AI regulations when they are fully established and in place.
The future of AI regulation
Growth is a primary target of the UK government so in its forthcoming AI regulations, they will need to strike a fine balance on all of this. When it comes to AI, we’re in competition with pretty much every advanced economy in the world and we need to get this right for users, consumers, developers, law enforcement and government. It’s a very difficult challenge and we ought to give the government time to develop AI regulations fully before they make their way into law.
