The report, Governing the Future: Recommendations from the Edinburgh Data and AI Exchange, published by the University of Edinburgh, brings together proposals on AI skills, national infrastructure, health data governance and democratic oversight.

The recommendations are based on a day-long event held this spring at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, which took the form of a stakeholder assembly.

The event brought together 99 participants from central and local government, the NHS, finance, academia, civic society and the wider public.

Edinburgh Data and AI Exchange © Supplied

One of its principal recommendations for the UK Government is the establishment of a standing citizens’ assembly on AI and society.

A citizens’ assembly is a group made up of members of the public, selected through a process of random sampling designed to reflect the demographic makeup of the wider population, to explore societal issues and make policy recommendations.

The report argues this should be a “permanent, properly resourced mechanism through which the public has a genuine and continuing role in shaping decisions about AI”.

It also called on the UK Government for long-term funding commitments on the level of its national supercomputer, and for “greater clarity on accountability when AI is involved in clinical decision-making”.

Professor Oliver Escobar, Chair of Public Policy and democratic innovation at the University of Edinburgh and designer of the Stakeholder Assembly, said: “AI is reshaping public services, democratic institutions and everyday life at a pace that has outrun meaningful public input.

“The Data and AI Exchange was designed to show that when stakeholders are given the time and structure to deliberate seriously, they produce the kind of grounded, cross-sector thinking that government needs to act with confidence.”

One of the report’s central recommendations for the Scottish Government is that there should be “sustained investment in data and AI skills as an industrial strategy commitment”.

Assembly participants also called for a statutory public benefit requirement for any private sector access to NHS Scotland data.

The report also suggests that any new Scottish commercial data centre developments should establish a community benefit trust, to ensure “communities that host major infrastructure see tangible returns.”

Professor Michael Rovatsos, Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Dean of Research and Innovation in the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, said: “We are at a defining moment for AI policy in the UK.

“The decisions made in the next few years – on infrastructure, on governance, on who gets a voice in shaping these technologies – will determine whether AI delivers on its potential for public good.”

Tom joined Deadline News in 2025 after graduating with a master’s degree in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University. He has previously reported on Scottish and European politics in both print and broadcast, and is also a freelance football commentator.

Being half-Belgian, Tom is also a fluent French speaker. You can contact him using the links below.

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