Lawyer Ex Machina #38
AI
From MIT Technology Review ($): how advances in AI are likely to change legal work.
Related: Goldman Sachs report on GenAI's potential effects on economic growth and legal industry reactions.
Last week, the government of Italy blocked access to ChatGPT nationwide on the basis of data privacy concerns.
Bloomberg released a paper last week detailing the development of a BloombergGPT, a large language model specifically trained on financial data. [Paper]
Hollywood is just starting to contend with the effects of AI on intellectual property rights. [Wall Street Journal ($)]
Stanford University has released this year's AI Index report - look at the top takeaways, download individual chapters or get the entire 300-page PDF.
This proposal from two fellows at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University suggests that both government and industry are approaching AI in "the wrong way" by treating it as a separate industry.
Reuters has an investigation of criminal charges against anti-government protestors in Russia, finding extensive use of facial recognition technology to identify, locate, and place suspects under preventive detention.
Blockchain
A U.S foreign service officer has written a public letter criticizing governmental skepticism towards blockchain technologies.
Legal Research
The legal research companies Fastcase and vLex are merging, with private equity firms Oakley Capital and Bain Capital Credit "investing an undisclosed amount in the combined business to expand its global reach and accelerate its development of artificial intelligence tools for the legal market."
Tech-Adjacent
Jordan Furlong, legal analyst and writer, on how legal intermediaries can help bridge the yawning civil justice gap.