The AI Drop

When two lawyers who co-head a global AI practice spend the day at a high-level policy forum, they come home with a lot on their minds. In this episode, Anna Gressel and Giles Pratt, Freshfields' Global Head of IP/Data Practice and Global Co-Head of AI, cover The Observer's new global AI cities rankings, the copyright questions looming over AI-generated code, the UK's pro-innovation policy bet — and a prediction for 2027 that involves all of us. Consider it the debrief that didn't stay in the room.

Giles explains why investors now ask whether the AI work they fund can actually be owned, and how UK law uniquely protects computer-generated works for 50 years, versus life plus 70 for a human author. He also warns that unsettled rules on model training could shape where data centers get built.

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In this episode of The AI Drop, Jason Stanley, Head of Applied AI Research at ServiceNow, returns for another discussion with host Anna Gressel on one of the most pressing challenges in AI governance: how to oversee AI systems that continue to adapt after deployment. Together, they explore what adaptive and self-improving AI means for enterprise risk and governance.

He explains why an AI system can excel at one task yet fail at a slightly reworded version of it, and why critical governance controls must sit beyond an agent's ability to modify them, even if those safeguards may not hold indefinitely.

Jason and Anna also discuss how contracts can transform voluntary standards into binding obligations more quickly than new regulation, and why effective oversight must extend to how AI systems evolve at runtime.

For legal, risk, and technology leaders alike, this conversation gives insight on the governance questions likely to dominate 2027.

Resources from this episode

• Jason Stanley | LinkedIn | github
• ServiceNow | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube
• Download the transcript