Reynolds hits ‘reset’ on competition

A daily download of the topics driving the tech policy agenda, from Brussels to London to Silicon Valley.

By TOM BRISTOW

with LAURIE CLARKE and JOSEPH BAMBRIDGE

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—  The government is giving the CMA a ‘reset’. The CMA will try to show it’s got the message.

— Peter Kyle explains the U.K.’s AI summit statement snub.

— MPs pick up where peers left off on copyright.

Good morning and happy Thursday,

This is Tom, back home.

You can get in touch with your news, tips and views by emailing Tom Bristow and Laurie Clarke. You can also follow us on Twitter @TomSBristow and @llaurieclarke.

THE STEER IS HERE Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will instruct the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to be “more agile” and “less risk averse” today in a big growth speech. Needless to say, it comes at a delicate time for the regulator.

How it plays out: The “strategic steer” — which the CMA must show it is “having regard to” when making decisions — should land shortly after Reynolds speaks at Samsung’s London HQ around 9:30 a.m. this morning. A consultation will follow.

What to expect: An overnight trail said the “reset” of the regulator’s priorities will instruct it “to be more focused on creating an agile, competitive business environment… with less burdensome regulation” and “focus on speeding up the decision-making process on interventions, giving more certainty for investors while delivering a fair deal for consumers.” Other regulators have also been put on notice to tear down barriers and be more responsive to industry feedback.

What does it mean? As we reported last week, the steer is likely to signal to the CMA to double down on its ongoing work to revise its mergers regime, which chief executive Sarah Cardell set out in a speech last November. After Brexit, the CMA took on merger review responsibilities which were previously with the European Commission, and some of its decisions and processes have sparked a backlash among (mainly U.S.) tech firms.

What it doesn’t mean: The steer will also remind the CMA to keep economic growth and consumer benefits front and center as it implements the digital markets regime which came into force last month. But the government won’t tinker with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act itself. (Notably, the press release only refers to the act’s consumer elements.)

Call and response: “I want the regulator to focus its efforts on genuine harms to U.K.-based consumers and businesses, so they can promote trust and deter abuse,” Reynolds will say in his speech. It will be followed by comments from Cardell herself, who will undoubtedly explain how the CMA is already taking the government’s growth decree on board.

Some context: The CMA has had a turbulent start to the year, after its former chair Marcus Bokkerink was ousted by ministers and replaced with Doug Gurr. Gurr’s background as an Amazon executive has made pro-competition advocates nervous, but the government has sought to present it as a positive.

Need I say more? “Doug Gurr’s experience in the tech sector means he brings unique experience of precisely the types of digital markets that the CMA are now responsible for regulating for the benefit of U.K. consumers,” Reynolds wrote in a letter to the chair of the Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee this week. “I can reassure you and the Committee that the Government remains committed to the DMCC Act.”

Big Tech presence: Nevertheless, Reynolds will follow up his speech — which will also touch on the industrial strategy — with a meeting of the government’s advisory council chaired by… Microsoft exec Clare Barclay. It’s part of another push of the government’s pro-growth agenda which will also see Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce plans for new towns today.

BIG SPEECH: Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and CMA chief Sarah Cardell speak about competition, growth and industrial strategy from 9:30 a.m. (See above.)

NOT HAD ENOUGH? Global Counsel and Bien Commun Advisory host a webinar at 1 p.m. reflecting on the AI Action Summit. Details here.

HAPPENING TODAY: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London.

SIMPLIFICATION DRIVE: The EU will scrap a proposed reform to AI liability rules as part of a drive to simplify its tech rules.

THROWING SHADE: Former Google boss Eric Schmidt cast doubt on Europe’s ability to build AI infrastructure but urged the West to pursue open source AI.

AI GALORE: OpenAI’s Sam Altman said the company plans to simplify its range of models and release new ones within “weeks.” OpenAI’s Project Stargate partner, SoftBank, reported a surprise loss, the FT reports. And Adobe launched a new video AI model.

BID INCOMING? Meta is considering a bid for Korean firm FuriosaAI that could help it develop its own chips, Forbes reports.

AGE CHECKS: Google plans to trial machine learning-based age estimation in the U.S.

SETTLED: Elon Musk’s X agreed to settle a lawsuit from Donald Trump for $10 million, the WSJ reports.

TRUMP WATCH: Trump’s pick to lead on competition cases against Big Tech said she’d pursue them if resources allow, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, a funding freeze at the U.S. consumer protection bureau could reduce tech enforcement, Wired reports.

THE DAY AFTER: The AI Action Summit — and the U.K.’s refusal to sign its final statement — provided the material for the most interesting exchanges at DSIT questions yesterday.

How my week went: Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said companies he met in Paris were “genuinely excited” about the U.K.’s AI plans, and congratulated the French on an “incredible summit.” “Britain’s voice was heard loud and clear, which is why we are delivering such extraordinary investment into this country,” he said.

Chi’s wrath: But chair of the Commons science and tech committee Chi Onwurah said AI users and the wider public were “concerned” by the government’s decision not to sign the statement, “particularly given that its content was far less contentious than wording that the U.K. agreed upon at previous summits.” Coming on the same day Patrick Vallance told her committee “there is no AI bill,” it suggested the government is “watering down” its position.

Hear from Peter: Kyle’s response echoed lines from No. 10 on Tuesday. While “a lot was achieved this week,” Kyle said: “This government puts national security first, an issue that we wanted to raise at the summit, which prevented us from signing the overall agreement.”

Not enough: In a follow-up statement, Onwurah said “the motivations for this remain unclear, as are the national security and global governance concerns cited by the secretary of state.” “The government needs to urgently clarify its position and offer reassurance that a safety- and citizen-first approach to AI has not been pushed aside,” she said.

AT THE FRINGE: The move also dominated the AI Fringe across town. Andrew Dudfield, head of Full Fact AI, told a panel the U.K.’s reasoning was “unclear,” and wondered if the U.K. was going full “free market” to cozy up to Trump.

Another view: But computer scientist Wendy Hall, who was in Paris, said she was told “categorically” from government sources that it wasn’t about appeasing the U.S. president. She lauded the U.K.’s stance on global governance and security as “quite brave” — and called the final statement mere “platitudes”.

Sino the times: Hall also reflected on the shifting geopolitical dynamics. At Bletchley, China’s minister was barred from the leaders’ day. In Paris, he had a central role (even if the country’s embryonic AI safety institute hasn’t been invited to join the global network). The U.K. could have a “soft power” role to play as this plays out, Hall suggested.

Reflections: In a later panel, former No. 10 AI adviser Henry de Zoete made a similar case. The U.K. had “done the right thing,” by listening to complaints from the AI safety crowd and buying goodwill with the U.S. That could ensure the U.K. has a seat at the table when China and the U.S. inevitably have to discuss super-powerful AI, he argued.

Can’t blame em: While France couldn’t be blamed for using the summit to advance their own agenda, de Zoete said top-level discussions on advanced AI are essential. “This thing is coming and it’s coming fast,” he said. (In his own post-summit reflections, Demis Hassabis wrote that concerns of AGI “are not far-off or far-fetched… They are global concerns that require focused, international cooperation.”)

Bletchley, redeemed: Faculty AI director Iain Mackay suggested the summit had been a “missed opportunity” to build on Bletchley Park’s safety work. But de Zoete said a “positive” was that some of Bletchley’s achievements have been embraced by industry, with AI labs continuing to update frontier AI safety frameworks.

Dissenting voice: Gaia Marcus, director of the Ada Lovelace Institute, called for “clarity” about the fate of the government’s safety and regulation commitments, which she framed as essential for trust and adoption. “We need to be very sure that anything coming into this country to build on is safe,” she argued.

DATA BILL: The Data (Use and Access) Bill had its first outing in the Commons yesterday — and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle couldn’t resist a dig at the previous government in his speech. “Governments have spent years waxing lyrical about the immense promise of technology, but their failure to deliver data reform has undermined that promise,” he said. “This bill will smash the silos standing in the way of reform and remove the brakes that are holding Britain back.”

Fun while it lasted: But Kyle’s gloating was quickly met with a wave of cross-party criticism of the government’s proposals on AI and copyright. He attempted to reassure disgruntled creatives — and MPs — by insisting he “refused to choose” between the tech and creative sectors.

Beeban’s amendments? Pressed on whether he would attempt to challenge the copyright amendments added to the bill in the Lords, Kyle dodged the question. “I assure [creatives] I have no intention at all standing in the way of their work being respected as we go through this process,” he said. He also agreed to meet representatives from the creative sector — something he has so far failed to do.

Here’s a clue: Creative Industries Minister Chris Bryant was somewhat more forthcoming. Responding to attacks that existing copyright law is clear enough, he pointed out that the Lords amendments themselves change the law. “We will somehow have to square that circle at some point during the bill’s progress,” he said.

Mak attack: Kyle and his Conservative opposite number Alan Mak exchanged barbs over the issue. Mak said Labour’s consultation represented “the worst of all worlds… It doesn’t provide any legal certainty, nor does it allow the views of those who responded to be taken seriously.” But Mak refused to say whether he agreed or disagreed with the opt-out approach himself.

Seeking to overturn: Meanwhile, Kyle trumpeted the government’s own amendments to the bill in the Lords, including on sexually-explicit deepfakes and children’s data. However, he said the government would seek to overturn an amendment from Jonathan Berry which seeks to add a public interest test for scientific research to process personal data.

Backstory: Berry argues the change is needed to avoid AI companies using it as a loophole. But Kyle said the requirement “would place an undue bureaucratic burden on researchers.”

Also problematic: Amendments put forward by Conservative peer Ralph Lucas which would force public authorities to share information on an individual’s sex change as part of a digital verification check were deemed incompatible with human rights law, Kyle said, as it “would mean passing along an excessive amount of personal data.”

NEW GIG: LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has been appointed as a senior visiting fellow at the Data Science Institute at the LSE. The unpaid role should see him spending more time in London for the next three years.

NOW HIRING: The CMA is hiring a senior technology adviser.

BEST BUDS: Larry Ellison and his pal Tony Blair bonded over the potential of letting AI loose on public data sets in Dubai, Bloomberg reports.

DO THIS: Pragmatic CEO Dave Moore told the Times the government should focus on tax incentives and reducing energy costs to support the U.K. chip industry.

HAVE YOUR SAY: The CMA is consulting on undertakings that chip design firms Synopsys and Ansys have committed to in order to see through their merger. It closes Feb. 26.

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