Regulating Artificial Intelligence in the Creative Economy LAW5238

  • Academic Session: 2025-26
  • School: School of Law
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: No
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course examines different models of digital regulation and their interfaces, with a focus on artificial intelligence and its impact on the creative economy. Legislators and regulators have been responding to the challenges posed by fast-moving digital technologies and the power of large technology firms by employing various instruments, such as competition law, intellectual property, and data protection, as well as ex ante risk-based approaches, codes of practice, and cross-regulatory cooperation, among others. Increasingly, stakeholders within the creative economy must learn how to engage with different regulators and the interfaces between diverse forms of regulation.

In this course, students will explore real-world examples of regulatory innovation. These may include, for example, the EU AI Act or the UK Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum. The course will equip students with the tools to critically assess and engage with emerging regulatory frameworks through key legislative and non-legislative developments.

Timetable

4 x 2-hour or 1.5-hour seminars (7 hours)

 

3 x 2-hour or 1-hour lectures (5 hours)

 

4 x 2-hour practical classes and workshops (8 hours)

Requirements of Entry

The course is open to students enrolled in the PG Cert in AI Law and the Creative Economy.

Excluded Courses

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Assessment

The summative assessment consists of:

■ Set exercise (20%) - Interactive small-group exercises resulting in a post on Moodle mapping the relevant legal instruments and regulators.

■ Written assignment: Essay (80%) - A written assignment of no more than 3,500-4,000 words that allows for deeper critical analysis and application of legal and policy frameworks to relevant issues of digital regulation.

The details of the set exercise and written assignment will be included in the course handbook. Students will be encouraged to draw on real-life challenges from their professional contexts, seeking collaborative problem-solving, and peer exchange. This approach aims to ensure that learning is grounded in practice and directly relevant to participants' careers.

Course Aims

The principal aim of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of the evolving regulatory landscape for artificial intelligence and other technologies, with a particular focus on their implications for the creative economy.

Further aims are to:

■ Develop students' knowledge of key legislative and policy developments in the UK and EU, for example the AI Act, Digital Services Act, and Online Safety Act;

■ Enable students to analyse the implications of regulatory frameworks for creative industries, cultural institutions, and technology firms;

■ Foster critical thinking and interdisciplinary reflection on the relationship between law, innovation, and creativity in the digital economy;

■ Provide students with real-world case studies to examine regulatory innovation and cross-agency cooperation;

■ Encourage independent research and engagement with current legal and policy debates.

■ Support the development of transferable skills, such as effective communication, policy writing, and the ability to translate complex regulatory concepts for diverse audiences.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

 

■ Identify and explain key regulatory frameworks relevant to AI and digital platforms in the creative economy;

■ Analyse the interaction between different areas of the law such as intellectual property, competition, data protection, and platform regulation in the context of AI and the creative economy;

■ Evaluate the implications of emerging legal and policy developments for creative industries, cultural institutions, and technology firms;

■ Apply legal and policy concepts to real-world case studies involving AI and the creative economy;

■ Demonstrate a critical awareness of the evolving nature of regulatory innovation and assess its significance for professionals operating at the intersection of law, technology, and the creative economy.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.