The Data and AI Exchange, held at the Edinburgh Futures Institute on 26 March 2026, brought together 99 representatives from across Scottish and UK public life to work through what both the UK and Scottish governments’ AI ambitions require in practice.

Governing The Future

The following report sets out what that process produced - the recommendations that emerged, the consensus that underpinned them and the questions that remain unresolved.

Foreword

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming part of the fabric of public life, and will increasingly influence how public services are delivered, how resources are allocated across society, and how people engage with policy and politics. This transformation poses a challenging task for Scotland and the UK: how can we build the capability to use AI well, with the confidence to govern it openly, ensuring it strengthens prosperity, public services and democratic life?

At the University of Edinburgh, the oldest civic university in the English-speaking world, we embrace our responsibilities to contribute to these conversations. Since 1963, we have been at the heart of pioneering AI research and its teaching.

We are also deeply aware that answering these questions requires a breadth of perspectives that goes beyond ours. This is why the Data and AI Exchange was designed as a deliberative event where participants from local and central government, the healthcare sector, finance, academia, civic society and the wider public worked through questions on AI infrastructure, data use and storage, adoption, applications, ethics and governance. Rather than repeat familiar positions, the Exchange tested what practical priorities emerge when different forms of expertise and experience come together.

A great deal was achieved in a single day. Concrete priorities were identified for national AI infrastructure, data and AI skills, AI adoption in healthcare, public benefit from data, children's online safety and environmental and democratic accountability. This report does not cover every dimension of AI policy - questions around national security, for instance, are of growing importance and warrant their own dedicated attention. What the Exchange did surface is captured here.

The Exchange sits alongside the University's AI for Government initiative, an ambitious programme supporting public bodies in navigating AI adoption, innovation, training, policy and governance. This ambition is practical as well as analytical: to help governments at all levels move beyond exploratory pilots and fragmented governance towards beneficial, scalable and publicly legitimate use of AI.

Scotland and the UK have the assets to shape an AI future, supported by responsible use of data that strengthens economic prosperity and human flourishing through innovative, trusted and socially responsible approaches. Doing so will require investment, openness, technical excellence and democratic imagination. Our aspiration is to be a partner in that task; helping build the knowledge, infrastructure, skills and public confidence needed for AI and data to serve society.

Professor Michael Rovatsos

Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Dean of Research and Innovation, College of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh