AI explainability: UK and EU legal frameworks (GDPR, DPA 2018, EU AI Act), ICO guidance, and practical steps for audits, impact assessments and transparency statements

Published by a LexisNexis TMT expert

Practice notes

Explainability has become a key pillar of ethical, responsible artificial intelligence (AI) and is now a common expectation within developing AI laws and rules. This Practice Note explores the explainability of AI, covering:

What AI explainability means
Why explainability matters
Regulatory guidance on explainability
The legal context for explainability
Practical approaches to deliver explainability

For more on AI, see Practice Notes:

Artificial intelligence and machine learning—an introduction to the technology
Artificial intelligence—data protection
Artificial intelligence—intellectual property
Artificial intelligence in the EU—the key legal issues
The AI project lifecycle—a quick guide
Negotiation guide—AI contracts
Contractual considerations for the procurement of artificial intelligence—checklist

For AI contract clauses, including issues of explainability and transparency, see: AI clauses—Warranties.

For a timeline of key legal developments on AI, see Practice Notes: UK artificial intelligence—tracker and EU Artificial intelligence—tracker.

What is AI explainability?

The nature of artificial intelligence The conceptual groundwork for modern AI was set in the 1950s. Yet only in recent years has AI—particularly ‘machine learning’—advanced at pace...

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Minesh Tanna

Simmons & Simmons

Minesh is a Partner in the firm’s Disputes & Investigations team and is the firm’s Global AI Lead.Minesh’s practice focuses on contentious commercial and regulatory issues, principally in the tech sector. He represents clients on regulatory investigations, litigations and arbitrations, as well as advising on regulatory readiness. Minesh is an industry-recognised leader in AI law. He is Chair of both the Society for Computers & Law (SCL) AI Group and the City of London Law Society (CLLS) AI Committee. Minesh is a published author, lecturer and speaker on AI, and has contributed chapters to AI law books including The Law of Artificial Intelligence (Sweet & Maxwell). As the leader of Simmons’ Tier 1 Artificial Intelligence team, Minesh has been ranked in the AI ‘Hall of Fame’ by Legal 500 UK for 2024 & 2025. He has been described as “a titan in the...

William Dunning

Simmons & Simmons

William is an associate in the Simmons & Simmons’s Disputes & Investigations group in London. He regularly acts for clients on complex commercial disputes across a range of sectors and jurisdictions, with a particular focus on telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) and energy matters. William is a member of the firm’s Cross-Border Arbitration Group and has experience advising and representing clients in arbitration under the LCIA, ICC, HKIAC and UNCITRAL rules, as well as in various arbitration-related court applications. He is a member of the LCIA and a qualified Solicitor Advocate (Higher Rights Civil).William is also a member of the firm’s Artificial Intelligence Group and regularly advises clients on legal and regulatory issues relating to AI. He has published a number of articles and book chapters the law of AI....

Jacob Turner

Fountain Court Chambers

Jacob Turner is a barrister at Fountain Court Chambers. He is the author of ‘Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence’ (Springer, 2018) and a joint author of ‘The Law of Artificial Intelligence’ (Sweet & Maxwell, 2nd ed. 2024). Jacob has acted in some of the world’s most significant AI-related cases, including as counsel for Dr Thaler in the UK Supreme court in Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents (the ‘AI Inventor’ case) and defending the first company investigated by the UK data protection regulator for alleged AI bias. Jacob is on the Attorney-General’s Panel of Counsel and has the Government on various aspects of AI regulation. He has been described in the Legal 500 directory as ‘the leading barrister in the AI space’ and is listed by Chambers and Partners as a ‘Global Leader in AI’.In addition to his technology work, Jacob is...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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