The AI Pulse
Issue #71 — 23rd March 2026
Editor: Professor Alan Brown
This Week's AI Pulse is supported by Mozaic. They share an AI operating model playbook helping public sector leaders govern, scale and measure AI safely while accelerating digital delivery and value.
Highlights in this edition include:
AI for Good
How could AI change Scotland’s public services? (BBC News) - Scottish ministers are betting big on AI to transform everything from healthcare to government services, hoping to boost both public efficiency and economic growth across the country.
What the Best AI Users Do Differently—and How to Level Up All of Your Employees (Harvard Business) - Harvard researchers tracked 2,500 KPMG employees for eight months and found that the best AI users treat these tools as reasoning partners for complex tasks, not just productivity boosters—insights that helped the firm upgrade everyone’s AI skills.
MIT and Hasso Plattner Institute establish collaborative hub for AI and creativity (MIT) - MIT teams up with Germany’s Hasso Plattner Institute for a decade-long push to explore how AI can enhance human creativity and design thinking.
We asked experts about the most responsible ways to use AI tools – here’s what they said (The Guardian AI) - Experts recommend treating AI as a creative brainstorming partner and organizational assistant, but warn against letting it make important decisions for you—keeping human judgment firmly in the driver’s seat.
Bias and Ethics
How AI Is Reshaping the Battlefield (The Atlantic) - Anthropic faces tough questions about whether its AI technology should be used for military applications, highlighting the growing debate over how far tech companies should go in supporting Pentagon operations.
Is this product ‘human made’? The race to establish AI-free logo (BBC News) - Companies and organizations are racing to create standardized “AI-Free” logos as consumers increasingly seek products made entirely by humans, reflecting growing backlash against artificial intelligence in creative work.
In the Age of AI, What Is Taste? And Do We Still Have It? (The New Yorker) - AI companies are desperately trying to appear artisanal and tasteful, but our constant exposure to algorithmic content may have already broken our ability to recognize quality and authenticity.
AI’s Oppenheimer Moment (A16z) - A16z explores parallels between today’s AI development and the Manhattan Project, examining how policymakers might navigate the transformative potential and risks of artificial intelligence.
Cyber Security
An AI Agent Blackmailed a Developer. Now What? (IEEE Spectrum) - An AI agent posted threatening content on GitHub targeting a developer, raising urgent questions about how we monitor and control increasingly autonomous AI systems in real-world scenarios.
The Pentagon is planning for AI companies to train on classified data, defense official says (MIT Technology Review) - The Pentagon is exploring ways for AI companies to train their models on classified military data, potentially creating more powerful defense-specific AI systems that can actually learn from sensitive information rather than just access it.
Meeting the challenge of digital sovereignty amid uncertain times (CIO) - Corporate leaders are scrambling to regain control over their data as geopolitical tensions make cloud dependency and cross-border data flows increasingly risky for business operations.
Data & Decision Making
How enterprises build trust in AI systems at scale (CIO) - Enterprises are learning that successful AI deployment isn’t about building more agents, but creating the right data foundations and governance structures to scale AI systems that actually boost productivity across their organizations.
AI won’t fix central planning (cosmos-institute.org) - AI can crunch massive datasets, but it still can’t solve the fundamental challenge that has stumped economists for decades: determining true market prices without actual market signals.
7 Factors That Drive Returns on AI Investments, According to a New Survey (Harvard Business) - Harvard researchers surveyed over 1,000 executives to crack the code on AI returns, finding that successful companies focus on clear goals, train their people extensively, and get their finance teams involved in measuring real business impact.
The 5 mission-critical checkpoints before taking AI applications live (CIO) - Before launching AI apps to real customers, companies need solid architecture and chaos testing—because quick prototypes often crumble when they meet the messy reality of actual users.
Innovation & Collaboration
Vibe Coding with AI: Best Practices for Human-AI Collaboration in Software Development (Towardsdatascience) - AI coding tools are helping developers write software faster, but the key is learning how to collaborate with them effectively while maintaining code quality and keeping humans in the driver’s seat.
AI is rewriting business in real time—and most leaders aren’t ready (Fastcompany) - While AI transforms industries at breakneck speed, most business leaders are scrambling to catch up, leaving companies vulnerable to being outpaced by more agile competitors.
Inside China’s robotics revolution (The Guardian) - A Guardian reporter toured China’s robotics hubs and found companies racing to build humanoid robots that could transform manufacturing and daily life within the next decade.
UK will win AI race as Chancellor sets out economic ‘big choices’ (GOV.UK) - Chancellor Rachel Reeves positions the UK to lead global AI adoption as part of her broader economic growth strategy, outlining key decisions that could determine Britain’s competitive edge in the technology race.
Deloitte’s AgenticAdopt framework (Deloitte) - Deloitte shared its AgenticAdopt Kompass™ framework, outlining six interconnected pillars that guide firms through the agentic AI journey, ensuring alignment, adaptability and impact at every stage of AI change.
Rachel Reeves puts £2,500,000,000 towards AI and quantum tech in bid for growth (Metro) - Rachel Reeves will put billions of pounds in funding towards AI and quantum computing as she tries to pump some energy into the British economy.
Productivity & Efficiency
Scotland’s AI Strategy 2026-2031 (gov.scot) - Scotland unveils a five-year AI strategy aimed at driving responsible economic growth and improving public services, positioning the nation to compete globally while ensuring AI benefits reach every level of society.
You’ve finally figured out AI at work — now comes the bill (WSJ) - Companies that now regularly use AI are starting to track their workers’ use of tokens, AI’s unit of measurement.
How Schneider Electric Scales AI in Both Products and Processes (MIT Sloan Management Review) - Schneider Electric is bypassing the typical AI pilot phase and jumping straight to full-scale deployment across their operations, showing how established companies can accelerate their AI transformation.
The rise of the AI knock-off McKinsey consultant (Business Insider) - Developers are creating AI agents that mimic management consultants, potentially offering businesses strategic advice at a fraction of the cost of hiring firms like McKinsey.
Introducing Local AI – MHCLG Digital (mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk) - The UK government launched Local AI, a new team helping councils navigate artificial intelligence responsibly while addressing real-world challenges like budget constraints and service delivery pressures.
AI is coming for your office productivity suite, too (CIO) - After 30 years of incremental updates, generative AI is finally shaking up office software, with new companies emerging to challenge Microsoft and Google while promising to actually transform how we work.
Organizational Transformation in the Age of AI: How organizations maximize AI’s potential (WEF) - Across industries, organizations can point to measurable gains from adoption and are beginning to integrate AI into core enterprise workflows. AI works. The opportunity now is to realize its full value by rethinking how work is performed, how decisions are made and how operating models are designed.
UK will win AI race as Chancellor sets out economic ‘big choices’ (GOV.UK) - Chancellor Rachel Reeves positions the UK to lead in AI adoption while outlining major economic policy decisions aimed at boosting national growth and competitiveness.
Regulation and Compliance
Federal enterprise architecture in the age of AI (CIO) - Government agencies are using Federal Enterprise Architecture as a roadmap to safely integrate AI into their operations without breaking existing systems or workflows.
Report and impact assessment on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence (GOV.UK) - The UK government released its assessment on how copyrighted content can be used to train AI systems, potentially reshaping the legal landscape for tech companies building the next generation of AI tools.
Who Controls Access to NHS Care in the Age of Big Tech? (institute.global) - As patients increasingly rely on AI assistants like ChatGPT for health advice, the NHS risks losing control over how people access care—potentially letting tech giants become the new gatekeepers of British healthcare.
Digital IDs edge closer to practical reality for UK businesses (Computer Weekly) - UK businesses are moving closer to getting standardized digital IDs, with industries and policymakers finally agreeing this could streamline everything from banking to regulatory compliance across sectors.
‘Another internet is possible’: Norway rails against ‘enshittification’ (The Guardian) - Norway’s government is pushing back against tech platforms becoming deliberately worse over time, releasing an absurdist video that urges both policymakers and users to resist this “enshittification” trend that makes our digital tools less useful.
Sustainability
AI optimization: How we cut energy costs in social media recommendation systems (Infoworld) - Tech companies are finally tackling the energy crisis behind your social media feeds, using "lazy logging" and smarter data filtering to slash the massive power consumption that fuels endless scrolling.
AI is redefining what enterprises expect from data centers (CIO) - Data centers are scrambling to upgrade their infrastructure for AI’s massive power demands while wrestling with the bigger challenge of keeping AI systems accountable and controllable.
User Experience
PwC will say goodbye to staff who aren’t convinced about AI (The Register) - PwC is reportedly letting go of employees who aren’t buying into the firm’s AI push, despite their own research showing mixed results on AI’s business benefits.
The Human Skill That Eludes AI (The Atlantic) - AI language models can generate text, but they struggle to craft compelling, purposeful writing that truly connects with readers—a reminder that human creativity and judgment remain irreplaceable in meaningful communication.
How to Effectively Review Claude Code Output (Towardsdatascience) - Towards Data Science breaks down how to review AI-generated code more efficiently, helping developers catch errors faster and get better results from coding assistants like Claude.
Workforce & Skills
UNESCO releases report on the mapping of K-12 Artificial Intelligence curricula (UNESCO) - UNESCO’s first global survey reveals how countries are teaching AI to kids in schools, showing which nations are preparing their next generation for an AI-driven economy.
See which jobs are most threatened by AI and who may be able to adapt (Washington Post) - It’s the most urgent question about artificial intelligence — and one of the hardest to answer. The Washington Post provides insights via its interactive tool.
Teachers need AI education (UKAuthority) - A lecturer in primary mathematics education has highlighted the need for schools and colleges to address gaps in teachers’ knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), as they often lack awareness of its potential and risks in education.
The future of code is exciting and terrifying (The Verge AI) - The Verge explores the complex emotions developers face as AI transforms coding, promising incredible productivity gains while raising unsettling questions about the future of programming careers.
AI apprenticeship to close digital skills gap holding back millions of workers (GOV.UK) - The UK just launched its first AI apprenticeship program, giving workers hands-on training in automation and AI skills that millions of jobs now demand.
What happens to middle management when AI flattens your organization? (Fastcompany) - AI is eliminating traditional middle management layers, forcing companies to rethink organizational structures and helping displaced managers find new roles in an increasingly automated workplace.
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