Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to dominate headlines as businesses explore how to make effective use of it.

The government remains committed to fostering growth in the AI industry. Last week, it opened bidding for local authorities to submit proposals to become the next AI Growth Zone. It anticipates that thousands of jobs could be created as a result, potentially revitalising local communities across various parts of the UK.

Last week also saw the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit take place in Paris. Representatives from 80 countries—including world leaders, tech executives, and academics—discussed AI’s current progress and future objectives.

The emergence of DeepSeek, the Chinese AI service, has sparked considerable discussion in the AI world. Partly due to concerns over security—Australia has banned it on government devices as a result—and partly because it appears to have been developed on a significantly lower budget than other AI services.

Meanwhile, the BBC published a report on its own research, stating that AI chatbots are unable to accurately summarise news. In their study of ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity, they found that 51% of AI-generated answers to news-related questions contained significant issues. Additionally, 19% of responses citing BBC content included factual errors, such as incorrect statements, numbers, and dates.

The BBC also found that the chatbots “struggled to differentiate between opinion and fact, editorialised, and often failed to include essential context.” Their report raises concerns about whether AI-generated headlines or news summaries could be misleading or even harmful.

The international law firm Hill Dickinson has taken steps to rein in AI usage among its staff, blocking general access. It found a significant rise in AI use, much of which did not align with its AI policy. Access is now managed through a request process.

Commenting on this, the Information Commissioner’s Office warned that there is a risk of firms prohibiting AI use while employees continue using it covertly.

As AI adoption grows, it seems likely that we will continue to see a mix of stories as businesses worldwide work out how to use AI safely and effectively.

In the meantime, it is clear that AI tools should not be used on a ‘set and forget’ basis. The reasons for AI usage by staff need to be understood, and AI-generated output must be scrutinised—ideally reviewed by someone with expertise in the subject.