GOV.UK announces a new government campaign to help parents talk to children about harmful online content, and it explicitly ties this year’s Safer Internet Day theme to the safe and responsible use of AI. The practical implication is that AI safety expectations are being translated into everyday online-safety behaviour, which increases pressure on platforms and services to show workable protections for children.
Regulation
UK Parliament committees publish an oral evidence session on regulators and growth dated 10 February 2026, and the session description explicitly flags the need for coordinated responses to cross-cutting technologies such as AI. The governance signal is institutional, scrutiny is moving towards whether regulators have the capacity and join-up to keep pace with AI-linked market change.
The UK Government Data in Government blog publishes a ‘Secure by Design’ post dated 10 February 2026 describing how automation is being used to strengthen data assurance across government. For AI governance, the relevant point is the operational framing, assurance is treated as a repeatable process and evidence trail, not a one-off policy statement.
Academia
arXiv posted ‘Structural transparency of societal AI alignment through institutional logics’ (February 2026), which is governance-relevant because it offers a structured way to analyse organisational decisions in AI alignment and makes them inspectable through an “analyst recipe” approach. This is useful for turning “alignment governance” into auditable decision points rather than narrative commitments.
Events
Holyrood Insight lists ‘AI in the Public Sector Scotland Conference’, Edinburgh, 11 March 2026. The event focus is public-sector AI use in Scotland, which makes it directly relevant for procurement, accountability, and implementation practice.
Holyrood Connect lists ‘Public Sector Data and AI Summit 2026’, Edinburgh, 18 March 2026. The agenda positioning is data and AI in public services, which is a practical venue for governance, assurance, and delivery lessons.
Takeaway
The thread today is governance as capability. AI safety is being pulled into mainstream online-safety expectations, and public bodies are emphasising assurance processes and regulator coordination as the mechanism for keeping control as adoption grows.
Sources: GOV.UK, UK Parliament Committees, Data in Government blog, Safer Internet UK, arXiv, Holyrood Insight, Holyrood Connect