Regardless of fragmented and delayed global AI regulation, companies that already align with international standards will have an advantage over their competitors when regulation becomes fully applicable, a series of reports has indicated.
In reports published throughout 2025, GlobalData has detailed a complicated global regulatory ecosystem for AI that makes it difficult for businesses to plan ahead. Its Global AI Regulatory Landscape report details fragmented and diverging regulations for AI globally, explaining: “The EU’s approach aims to protect the consumer. The US approach prioritises protecting businesses, particularly AI companies, while in countries like China, AI regulation seeks to protect the government.”
The picture is further complicated by delays to key pieces of AI regulation around the world outlined in the recent seventh edition of GlobalData’s Artificial Intelligence Executive Briefing, which is focussed on understanding the business impact of AI.
“The US government is pushing back against state-level regulation, while the European Commission could postpone the EU AI Act,” the briefing says by way of example. It adds that regulation in the UK has been delayed by opposition to a copyright reservation mechanism proposed by the government.
Of that specifically, the briefing notes: “Both businesses and creators face uncertainty due to the lack of a clear copyright framework.”
Long-term benefits in AI regulation alignment
Despite the apparent complexity for businesses trying to navigate AI regulation across borders, the GlobalData report asserts simply that compliance across standards will benefit them in the long term.
“Companies that already align with international standards (where available) and management risk frameworks will have an advantage over their competitors when regulation becomes fully applicable,” it states.
Indeed, such is the emergent stage of AI and its forecast pace of development that building long-term competitive advantage is a sensible strategy for companies both using and developing the technology. GlobalData forecasts that the value of the AI market will grow from $103bn in 2023 to over $1trn by 2030.
In its Agentic AI report, the company says of AI’s expected evolution: “Over time, organisations will transform their software stacks from AI functionality to an AI-native stack, where AI is built into every major software component.”
GlobalData’s view is that there is no trade-off between such innovative progress and AI regulation.
The Global AI Regulatory Landscape report explains: “The common challenge of the different approaches is ensuring regulations remain relevant to a technology that is evolving quickly while not hampering innovation. However, there is no evidence that a higher level of regulation is detrimental to innovation, as both the EU and China are key players in AI while also shaping the AI regulatory agenda. What is true is that legal certainty is paramount for companies that need to make investment decisions on AI, and a lack of regulation could discourage investments in the long run.”
