---
id: "concept-regulatory-sandboxes"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["§ How Leaders Can Capture Value"]
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2025/10/is-ai-a-boom-or-a-bubble"
source_title: "Is AI a Boom or a Bubble?"
tags: ["governance", "compliance", "innovation-policy", "tech-governance"]
related: ["action-engage-governance", "concept-geopolitical-ai-acceleration"]
definition: "Controlled, policy-backed environments that allow companies to experiment with AI innovation while maintaining regulatory oversight and public accountability."
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-foci-74-ai-boom-or-bubble"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/10/is-ai-a-boom-or-a-bubble"
sourceTitle: "Is AI a Boom or a Bubble?"
---
# Regulatory Sandboxes for AI

Controlled environments established by policymakers that allow businesses to experiment with new AI technologies and use cases **while maintaining oversight and accountability**.

The author advocates for sandboxes as a mechanism to **balance rapid innovation against the necessity of safeguarding society**. By participating in these public-private partnerships, firms can help embed transparency and risk management into the technology, ensuring AI policy evolves *concurrently* with the technology rather than stifling it or allowing unchecked harm. This is the conceptual basis for the action item [[action-engage-governance|engage in emerging governance frameworks]] and connects to [[concept-geopolitical-ai-acceleration|geopolitical AI acceleration]].

> **Enrichment note:** The **EU AI Act** plus national regulatory-sandbox programs (e.g., UK, Singapore) are the leading real-world examples. 2025 investment outlooks increasingly treat ethical AI, data quality, and governance as *drivers* of sustainable AI investment — aligning with the author's advocacy.


## Related across articles
- [[contrarian-regulation-as-catalyst]]
- [[claim-regulation-positive-factor]]
- [[concept-regulatory-taxonomy]]