Ethical AI Development Becomes Critical

There is scattered evidence of continued attention to AI ethics and responsible AI as a competitive theme (e.g. calls for slower AI development, an executive framing ethics as competitive advantage, AI fluency discussions), but no strong, measurable evidence of companies gaining concrete trust or competitive benefits, nor clear data on regulatory/public scrutiny intensifying or fading. The falsification criteria (scrutiny fading and no measurable trust/competitive benefit) are not clearly met, but supporting evidence is also thin and mostly anecdotal rather than systemic.