AI partnerships are booming, but are we prioritising speed over governance?

AI is no longer optional infrastructure; it’s becoming the connective tissue of public and private sectors alike. The UK government’s proactive stance, including its AI Opportunities Action Plan unveiled at this year’s London Tech Week, represent a country-wide example of commitment to AI innovation and leadership.

But while AI could generate up to $450 billion in economic value according to Capgemini, trust in AI remains a key issue, having dropped from 43% to 27%. Ethical concerns, lack of transparency, and limited understanding of AI capabilities are some of the reasons. Less than one in five businesses are reporting high maturity with respect to their data and technology infrastructure to support it.

At OneAdvanced, we have designed a platform, OneAdvanced AI, to meet the needs of UK organisations, helping them navigate innovation with integrity. Based on our research to identify customers' unique needs, we’ve put together these five questions we believe can help business leaders as they navigate their own AI partnership needs and opportunities to accelerate business growth. 

1. Are we scaling AI faster than we're governing it?

AI systems are moving at pace, but what happens when they outrun the infrastructure they rely on?

Issues like AI “hallucinations”, black box decision-making, and unpredictable outputs can create real friction in operating systems. And in sectors where it's particularly critical that outcomes are explained and justified – such as legal, healthcare, education – this can affect performance and trust.

In the UK, efforts to establish more formal regulatory authorities and sandboxes are already underway. Both experts and policymakers acknowledge that AI’s rapid scaling has outstripped the speed and effectiveness of current governance efforts, and the coming months will be critical to close this gap.

How do we stay ahead without losing control?  Governance needs to scale with technology, and that’s where approaches like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) can come in handy, limiting outputs to organisation-specific data and increasing transparency in critical decision-making. 

2. Are we protecting public data strategically?

AI needs data to function, but how that data is accessed and used must remain under clear control, especially when confidential. The voluntary and exploratory nature of AI partnerships can sometimes blur these lines, overmining clarity.

The importance of data as a “strategic asset” is being recognised, but without stringent safeguards, exposing sensitive public information when integrating AI technologies into critical systems could imply risks that compromise us all.

How do we turn strong principles into daily practices? Solutions like private, secure AI workspaces – as offered by OneAdvanced AI – help ensure workplace collaboration can happen within protected environments, enabling teams to work with real-world data safely and confidently, avoiding incidents like the ChatGPT “shared link” scandal, which exposed over 100,000 user chats.

3. Are we embedding fairness into the foundation?

Biased AI systems not only pose threats to organisations in the form of discrimination lawsuits, penalties, and reputational damage. They represent missed opportunities to better serve diverse communities. We are uniquely positioned to ensure AI doesn't just drive efficiencies but is improves access.

Diverse training datasets, regular and thorough bias audits, inclusive development teams, and transparent processes to address biases on the go, are all essential strategies to ensure this can happen. This also means human oversight is essential, along with the right AI training for those in charge.

How do we build fairness into the process? By investing in diverse data, inclusive design, and transparent bias detection from day one. Tools that enable real-time insights – like those baked into OneAdvanced AI platform – can support fairer, faster business decisions at scale.

4. Do we have the flexibility to adapt over time?

Organisations must remember they are entering partnerships where they access, not own, the technologies they rely on. This shift to “softer power” means that while AI systems rapidly advance, the terms, support, and functionalities the partnership offers may change and become outdated. Then how do we scale?

What can help? AI agents don't fix the problem but can add a layer of flexibility. Embedded responsively into your flow of work, they can deliver compliance, manage risks, and improve operational efficiency as you grow, so that your systems can remain agile even as conditions change. Check out our AI agents.

5. Are we building for capacity or only connectivity?

Partnerships should complement a self-sustaining autonomous ecosystem aligned with our ways of working, so that disruptions in service availability or increases in pricing don’t have amplified consequences on business operations.

How to strike the balance? Investing in platforms that align with both your business and your country's goals. OneAdvanced AI, for example, stores and processes all data within the UK and meets stringent compliance standards, enabling you to tap into global expertise while retaining local control.

AI partnerships should technical and strategic

At OneAdvanced, we believe AI can – and should – serve public interest with transparency, accountability, and purpose. That’s why we built OneAdvanced AI around UK regulatory standards and real-world public sector needs.

AI isn't just about keeping up with change, it's about helping shape it. It shouldn't replace your team's human judgement; it should elevate it. If we design with care, partner with clarity, and lead with intention, we can build an AI future based on purpose, instead of just one that emerges by default.

 Discover OneAdvanced AI today.