‘Copyright and patent law require the identification of an author or inventor, and further require the author or inventor to be human. We explore this requirement primarily with reference to U.S. law and provide additional illustrations from U.K. and E.U. law.’ Link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4892973

‘OpenAI introduced a smaller, more cost-efficient version of its most powerful model GPT-4o — and it could mean even more AI-powered apps.’ Link: https://qz.com/openai-small-version-gpt4o-mini-chatgpt-cost-efficient-1851598869

‘Thus far, even AI companies have had trouble coming up with tools that can reliably detect when a piece of writing was generated using a large language model. Now, a group of researchers has established a novel method for estimating LLM usage across a large set of scientific writing by measuring which “excess words” started showing up…

‘Businesses developing and procuring AI tools have been urged to build their understanding of how the new EU AI Act will apply to them, and the risk management obligations they may be subject to, after the legislation was written into EU law on Friday.’ Link: https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/ai-act-written-into-eu-law-as-compliance-clock-ticks

‘How do we as libraries position ourselves in the institutional conversations about AI to best support these principles, demonstrate our value and embark on some work that actually contributes to student learning in this space?’ Link: https://mmitblog.wordpress.com/2024/07/02/why-libraries-need-to-take-the-centre-ground-in-organisational-discussions-on-ai/

‘Some observers are beginning to question whether gen AI will produce enough value to exceed its costs. It can, but extracting economic value from gen AI requires several different types of disciplined capabilities. Unfortunately, most companies lack these. The good news is they can develop them. Specifically, companies should invest in behavioral change, controlled experimentation,…

‘It’s the simplest questions that are often the hardest to answer. That applies to AI, too. Even though it’s a technology being sold as a solution to the world’s problems, nobody seems to know what it really is. It’s a label that’s been slapped on technologies ranging from self-driving cars to facial recognition, chatbots to…

‘Early this year, we began to explore the potential of supervisory AI agents as “intelligent alarms” for generative AI integrations in legal workflows. We consider that supervisory AI agents provide multi-prong risk mitigation by behaving both as a guardrail and continuous monitoring for legal professionals that use generative AI in their work processes. In the…

‘Libraries, Archives, Museums (LAM) have always found it challenging to improve the accessibility of their collections.With physical objects, institutions lack the physical space for public exposure. As digitisation technology became more affordable, and the Internet – widespread, there was hope that the accessibility issue will be resolved once and for all. Unfortunately, to quote Erik…

‘Producer Chris Skipper is joined by guests Marjolein Pordon of ladylowcode.com fame and Andri Johnston from Cambridge University Press & Assessment to discuss the sustainability challenges associated with AI’s increasing energy demands and the role of data centers in addressing these challenges. Marjolein emphasizes the need for sustainable infrastructure and the potential synergy between low-code…

‘Many consumers suffer from inadequate information and behavioral biases, which can produce internalities, understood as costs that people impose on their future selves. In these circumstances, “Choice Engines,” powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), might produce significant savings in terms of money, health, safety, or time. Different consumers care about different things, of course, which is…

‘This chapter examines these issues, categorizing problematic outputs into three legal categories: discriminatory content; harassment; and legally hard cases like unbalanced content, harmful stereotypes or misclassification. It argues for holding genAI providers and deployers liable for discriminatory outputs and highlights the inadequacy of traditional legal frameworks to address genAI-specific issues. The chapter suggests updating EU…

‘Automatic summarization of legal case judgements, which are known to be long and complex, has traditionally been tried via extractive summarization models. In recent years, generative models including abstractive summarization models and Large language models (LLMs) have gained huge popularity. In this paper, we explore the applicability of such models for legal case judgement summarization.…

‘This is the introductory part of a multipart series on using synthetic data to train artificial intelligence (AI) models. Part 2 of this series will cover the question of how training AI models on synthetic data may mitigate copyright infringement risks. Part 3 will cover the interplay between synthetic data training sets, the EU Copyright…

‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered recruitment systems are discriminating against disabled people. The people developing and using the systems need to look again at how they work and employers of all sizes and sectors to understand the risks that they face when using these solutions.’ Link: https://abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/Is-AI-discriminating-against-disabled-job-applicants

‘To equip parliaments with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the landscape of AI, these guidelines consider ethical implications, transparency, accountability, and the integration of AI within the parliamentary workspace, and more. They provide a framework that parliaments can adapt to their context and needs.’ Link: https://www.wfd.org/ai-guidelines-parliaments

‘How to navigate open source evidence in an era of deepfakes. By Professor Yvonne McDermott Rees and Professor Alexa Koenig.’ Link: https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/can-t-believe-your-eyes-

‘The King’s speech stated that the Starmer-led Government “will seek to establish the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models.”’ Link: https://www.twobirds.com/en/artificial-intelligence-insights/shared/insights/2024/uk/labours-plans-for-ai-regulation–in-the-kings-speech

‘The training process for a single AI model, such as an LLM, can consume thousands of megawatt hours of electricity and emit hundreds of tons of carbon. AI model training can also lead to the evaporation of an astonishing amount of freshwater into the atmosphere for data center heat rejection, potentially exacerbating stress on our…

‘Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly evolved from a sci-fi idea to a crucial part of modern technology, impacting a number of industries like healthcare, banking, education, and law enforcement. Fairness and bias issues with AI systems have drawn a lot of attention as they grow increasingly prevalent in everyday life. In artificial intelligence, “bias” refers…

‘Delays in legal proceedings significantly impact both corporate finances and individual livelihoods. Traditional methods for managing these delays typically rely on subjective assessments of what constitutes a reasonable process duration. This study explores a more precise approach by integrating machine learning and process mining techniques to enhance prediction of legal proceedings’ overall time. Diverging from previous works…

‘While generative AI tools have been heralded as the future of education, more than 40 years of academic research suggests that it could also harm learning in realms from online tutoring to employee training for three reasons. First, the best student-teacher relationships are empathetic ones but it is biologically impossible for humans and AI to…

‘A federal judge in California has rejected Workday’s bid to dismiss a proposed class action claiming that the artificial intelligence-powered software the company uses to screen out job applicants for other businesses bakes in existing biases.’ Link: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/workday-must-face-novel-bias-lawsuit-over-ai-screening-software-2024-07-15/

‘When two octogenarian buddies named Nick discovered that ChatGPT might be stealing and repurposing a lifetime of their work, they tapped a son-in-law to sue the companies behind the artificial intelligence chatbot.’ Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ap-chatgpt-openai-microsoft-john-malkovich-b2578251.html

‘AI is a hot topic in the legal profession, but finding the right tool can be overwhelming. While many AI tools are designed specifically for lawyers, numerous generic tools can also be useful.’ Link: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_practice/resources/law-technology-today/2024/ai-tools-for-legal-work-claude-gemini-copilot-and-more/

‘AI could add trillions of dollars a year to the global economy and increase labour productivity. But experts warn that bias and misinformation may spread.’ Link: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/ai-in-society/

‘Lawyers contemplating whether to embrace artificial intelligence are ‘damned if they do and damned if they don’t’. That is how the master of the rolls put it in a recently published speech to the Professional Negligence Bar Association, looking at how AI might affect negligence claims against lawyers.’ Link: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/commentary-and-opinion/will-ai-spark-a-new-type-of-negligence-claim/5120363.article

‘On July 12, 2024, the EU AI Act (EU Regulation 1689/2024) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The text of the law is final and will enter into force on August 1, 2024. Its provisions will apply according to the staggered timetable below. ‘ Link: https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2024/07/eu-ai-act-published-which-provisions-apply-when

‘In this edition of our Public Law Podcast series, Jasveer Randhawa is joined by Jamie Susskind of 11 KBW, a leading authority in the law and regulation of digital technology.’ Link: https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/notes/tmt/2024-posts/public-law-podcast-episode-16

‘In this episode, Partners James Longster, from our Technology & Commercial Transactions team and Ingrid Hodgskiss, from our Competition team, discuss the evolving landscape of the application of competition law to AI. They cover the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s recent activity in the AI space, as well as other hot topics like the application of merger…

‘As we integrate the power of artificial intelligence into workplaces, the demand for responsible, human-centric processes grows.’ Link: https://guardianlabsaustraliaaiandthelaw.podbean.com/e/episode-1-can-ethics-put-the-necessary-humanity-into-ai

‘In this report, we explore how these professionals perceive the use of generative AI in their workplace, how and to what level they are using and integrating it into their processes, and perceptions of the future of work in an environment in which generative AI has made its presence felt.’ Link: https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/reports/2024-generative-ai-in-professional-services.html

‘On the Books: Jim Crow and Algorithms of Existence is a text-mining project undertaken by University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill libraries to identify racially based laws passed in the state between 1865 and 1967. In the fall 2022, I used the On the Books project to teach a module in my Advanced Legal Research class…

‘Artificial intelligence tech companies are refusing to abide by internet protocol when it comes to scraping data. Their ravenous scavenging behavior is upending the basic rules of the internet.’ Link: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/05/nx-s1-5026932/artificial-intelligence-web-crawlers-are-running-amok

‘The Trades Union Congress (“TUC”) recently published its proposed Artificial Intelligence (Regulation and Employment Rights) Bill (the “Bill”), which aims to regulate employers’ use of AI as it relates to the rights and interests of workers.’  Link: https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/uk/trade-union-congress-draft-artificial-intelligence-regulation-and-employment-rights-bill

‘On Friday 5 July 2024, voters in the UK elected the Labour Party to form a new government. Below we share our initial thoughts on what a Labour government might mean for the development and regulation of data protection, artificial intelligence and digital products and services in the UK. ‘ Link: https://www.ropesgray.com/en/insights/viewpoints/102jc9k/labour-victory-the-implications-for-data-protection-ai-and-digital-regulation-i

‘With law firms reporting that generative AI is slashing the time involved in certain tasks, calls are growing for benchmarking and quality standards.’ Link: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/features/the-search-for-common-standards/5120224.article 

‘The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents both immense opportunities and significant challenges leading some to call it the Wild West.  Some of the most exciting AI advancements are happening in a world of connected devices whether it be connected or autonomous automobiles, mobile phones, virtual reality headsets or old-fashioned laptops.’ Link: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/disconnected-rules-connected-world-ideas-ai-innovation-regulation-2024-07-09/  

‘The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Regulation, commonly referred to as the AI Act, is expected to come into force during the summer of 2024 (the AI Act). The AI Act will be the first comprehensive legal framework for the use and development of artificial intelligence (AI), and is intended to ensure that AI systems developed and used in…

‘Do large language models (LLMs) know the law? LLMs are increasingly being used to augment legal practice, education, and research, yet their revolutionary potential is threatened by the presence of “hallucinations”—textual output that is not consistent with legal facts. We present the first systematic evidence of these hallucinations in public-facing LLMs, documenting trends across jurisdictions,…

We have added a new section to AI Update. On the ‘Courses‘ page you will find lists of online courses (a large proportion of which are free/free to audit).

‘The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in inventive processes raises numerous patent law issues, including whether AI can be an inventor under law and who owns the AI-generated inventions. The UK Supreme Court decision in Thaler v Comptroller of Patents, Designs and Trademarks has provided an ultimate answer to this question: AI cannot be an inventor for…

‘Five Canadian law societies have issued guidance for lawyers using generative AI in their practice. The Law Society of Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario offer resources on licensee professional and ethical obligations when utilizing AI. The guidance ranges from a white paper flagging risks practitioners face to practical tips for implementing tools driven…

‘One reason we are sensitive about genAI (generative AI) is because knowledge and language are central to our sense of ourselves and to the institutions which are important to us. Accordingly, application of genAI raises major questions across the cultural, scholarly and civic contexts that are important to libraries. In this context, I like Alison…

‘Looking at his glossy profile picture, online commentators had decided he was computer-generated and the inevitable Twitter pile-on ensued.’ Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reform-uk-ai-candidate-mark-matlock-b2576101.html

‘A fierce legal battle involving the future of generative AI took a fascinating turn last week in a tenacious copyright infringement lawsuit that had been brought by a major publisher against AI maker OpenAI of ChatGPT fame. The specific case entails the New York Times (NYT) seeking a legal bid to score a bullseye on OpenAI for…

‘Michael Stych has co-founded a service offering help with legal questions through a chatbot. He tells Catherine Baksi he wants it to be a force for good.’ Link: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/we-use-ai-to-make-justice-more-accessible-to-ordinary-people-fk78crxtt

‘Many in the information seeking community are excited about the promise of large language models and Generative AI to improve scholarly information access. These models can quickly transform the content of scholarly works in ways that can make them more approachable, digestible, and suitably written for audiences for whom the works may not have been…

‘We introduce the Cambridge Law Corpus (CLC), a corpus for legal AI research. It consists of over 250 000 court cases from the UK. Most cases are from the 21st century, but the corpus includes cases as old as the 16th century. This paper presents the first release of the corpus, containing the raw text…

‘Two critical policy questions will determine the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the knowledge economy and the creative sector. The first concerns how we think about the training of such models—in particular, whether the creators or owners of the data that are “scraped” (lawfully or unlawfully, with or without permission) should be compensated…