Advertise on podcast: The Roadmap

Vik Khurana, Tom Sharpe and Simon McDougall explore the evolving policy, legal and geopolitical issues shaping artificial intelligence. Drawing on developments across the AI policy landscape, they discuss data sovereignty, cybersecurity and resilience, and the wider societal harms driving calls for regulation. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In our latest Roadmap podcast, Vik Khurana and Tom Sharpe,  discuss something a lot of clients are asking about right now: use of Chinese AI models and open-weight AI. They also take a look at what’s happening on the UK sovereign AI side of things. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

Vik Khurana and our new AI Partner, Tom Sharpe, sit down to discuss the big trends they are seeing in the AI market this summer. These include the posture vendors are taking on AI contract terms; key use cases ranging from HR and recruitment tools to marketing and content generation (and the different risks presented by each); where agentic AI is being silently contracted for without legal review; a renewed focus on EU AI Act compliance (and what the AI Omnibus package really means); and our favourite (or least favourite!) new AI terminology. Tom and Vik will be hosting an event at our London Blackfriars office on 22 September 2026. They will lead a practical, interactive walk-through of a realistic scenario from start to finish – from the initial request from the business, through due diligence and contracting, to the governance considerations once the tool is live.  You can register your interest here. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

Charlie Hawes and Simon McDougall recently attended Europe’s leading AI conference, the IAPP AI Governance Global Europe 2026 in Dublin.  During the event, Simon chaired a panel discussion examining the impact of regulatory shocks on AI alongside fellow industry experts.  In this podcast, Charlie and Simon reflect on the key themes, insights and debates that emerged from the panel, and explore what they mean for organisations navigating the evolving AI regulatory landscape.  Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

This episode explores AI content licensing in the media space. Alice Esuola-Grant, Jamie Cox-Deakins and Vik Khurana discuss why content owners and AI developers are increasingly utilising licensing arrangements, the commercial drivers for this and how these types of deals differ from traditional content licensing. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In this episode, Vik Khurana and William White break down how the rise of generative and agentic AI is reshaping technology contracting. Mapping practice across traditional IT, gen AI and agentic AI, they offer practical guidance on IP ownership, performance risk, liability frameworks and negotiation strategy – cutting through the uncertainty for anyone negotiating AI deals.  In particular: How AI-generated outputs and autonomous agent workflows are complicating data and IP ownership models New approaches to performance warranties as AI systems shift from deterministic to probabilistic Liability caps, IP indemnities and why agentic AI disclaimers deserve extra scrutiny Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In this episode, Vik Khurana and Simon McDougall take time out from our new series on agentic AI risks, to give their “hot takes” on the latest tools causing a stir in AI circles - Claude Code and Cowork, and OpenClaw and Moltbook - in a way that legal people can easily understand and talk to their business teams about with confidence. Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In this episode, Vik Khurana and Naomi Foale explain agentic AI – the features that distinguish it from GenAI, the ‘modes of failure’ that mean risks arise differently, and the potential liability and risk issues that could arise and how those are likely to be allocated between the different players and moving parts involved in agentic systems. Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In the final episode of our series on AI Governance, Vik Khurana and Simon McDougall set out how organisations can manage and monitor AI risk on an ongoing basis, focusing on turning governance into a BAU process, monitoring the performance of AI systems and the importance of AI literacy and training for your teams.  Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In the second episode of our series on AI Governance, Vik Khurana and Simon McDougall set out how organisations can design and implement AI governance into their organisations, covering the gap analysis required, risk classification tools, regulatory mapping and requirements inventory. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In the first episode in our mini-series on AI Governance, Vik Khurana and Simon McDougall set out how organisations can kick off their programme, starting with the important work of identifying and assessing the use of AI, risk framework maturity, roles and responsibilities and high level risk and regulatory exposure. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In this episode, Vik Khurana and Simon McDougall (Bristows Senior Adviser and Chief Strategist for AI at ZoomInfo) discuss the emerging discipline of AI governance and risk management. In particular they offer practical tips to those starting out in AI governance on: How to get started with setting up AI governance.The main industry frameworks and standards for useful baselines.Getting to know how your organisation engages with AI.Here are links to the learning resources Simon and Vik discuss during the first section: Bristows AI resource centreAda Lovelace InstituteICO AI resource centreExponential ViewSilicon SandsAI as Normal TechnologyISO/IEC 42001:2023NIST AI Risk Management FrameworkFind all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn to find more interesting content like this. Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In this episode, Vik Khurana explains the ‘building blocks’ of an AI system and various legal and commercial trends, risks and issues. In particular: What are the building blocks?  A deep dive on training data, weights and parameters, model code, inference code and computational resources.  Where does value and IP reside within each block?  What is typically accessible and what is not?  What is proprietary and what is open sourced?The different licensing models and regulatory exceptions around the development and use of open source AI.Here is a link to the ‘building blocks’ diagram Vik mentions in the episode that may be useful for listeners to view during the first half of the episode. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

In this final episode of our three-part mini series on the EU AI Act and its implications for manufacturers of medical devices, Marc Dautlich and Alex Denoon look in detail at Annex V of the Act.  Annex V of the EU AI Act requires, amongst other things, that a manufacturer provide the Notified Body making a conformity assessment with a statement that the high risk AI system that is being assessed and which forms part of the medical device, and which involves the processing of personal data (as many medical devices will), "complies with the GDPR".  What exactly does a statement like that look like? And how are the Notified Bodies responsible for the conformity assessment going to evaluate the inevitable qualifications and caveats to any such statement that applicants are likely to make? Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod

As rumours swirl of a delay to the date of application of the AI Act, here is part 2 of specialists Marc Dautlich and Alex Denoon's podcast. In this episode, they delve further into Marc’s territory – the principles based GDPR - and note an uncomfortable practical constraint hidden away in Annex V of the EU AI Act. This issue wasn’t addressed in Team-NB’s Position Paper, but is likely to be a significant challenge. Send us Fan Mail Note: All information was correct at the time of recording. Thanks for listening! If you have any feedback, questions or comments, please email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes as we release them here, and don’t forget to subscribe! Follow us on LinkedIn using #TheRoadmapPod