On the 28th of July 2020, international law firm Ashurst announced that they join a major cross-sector consortium made up of businesses and universities in order to deliver the AIR (Automated Intelligent Regulation) Platform, an AI-driven data access platform for regulated industries. 

Cross-industry data collaboration is critical for major security, service and product advances. The AIR Platform will develop and deploy next year as a privacy preserving, data access and data collaboration platform which is thought to transform the way that industries, regulators and legislators operate and interact with each other on a local and global level. 

The AIR Platform is led by RegTech platform company RegulAItion and backed by Government funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and private investment. It is being developed in conjunction with the consortium, including Ashurst, the Financial Conduct Authority, as well as two international banks, Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, Wilson Wright Accounting and Tax Practice, University College London and Loughborough University.

At the moment, the AIR Platform is still under development, with commercial and collaborator use cases being developed concurrently to establish real-world return on investment. Full project delivery is scheduled for Innovate UK’s deadline, which is June 2021.  

Sally Sfeir-Tait, CEO of RegulAItion, comments:  “Our vision for the AIR Platform is to provide the digital infrastructure required for scalable, automated, repeatable, and responsible data-access, supporting the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the UK's leading position in it.”

She adds: “We’re facing the perfect storm; there is simply more data in the world than we can handle, it is suffocating businesses, industries and regulators. Equally, data silos mean organisations are unable to develop meaningful solutions, and privacy concerns such as GDPR and commercial interests stand in the way of delivering collaborative efforts to share knowledge from data. Tackling these challenges as individual businesses or sectors is not only prohibitive but also limiting in terms of what can be achieved that is of real value. However, a collaborative, sector-agnostic approach driven by artificial intelligence, machine learning and other analytical technologies can work. The AIR Platform will be that generational breakthrough.”

Tara Waters, partner and head of Ashurst Advance Digital, states the following: “Progress requires collaboration—but the current regulatory environment makes collaboration a challenge for many business. The AIR Platform addresses these challenges and, in doing so, has the power to unleash a wave of data-driven innovation across a range of industries. For service industries in particular, where knowledge and expertise forms the core of our business, solutions like the AIR Platform will enable us to deliver that knowledge in a more meaningful way to a wider range of people and for the benefit of all".