Eyewear, spywear
A small newsletter on legaltech
AI
News that OpenAI will be scanning ChatGPT conversations and sending ones to law enforcement that involve “imminent threat of serious physical harm to others” has led to a bit of a backlash against the company
A new start-up promises AI-enhanced “smart” glasses that will record and transcribe every conversation; no word on if the glasses will be called The Grain [warning: spoilers]
The National Center for State Courts has released a report recommending the “modernization” of unauthorized practice of law (UPL) regulations to enable “AI-driven solutions and improve access to justice”
From 404 Media [$]: “Michigan just became the 48th state to enact a law addressing deepfakes, imposing jail time and penalties up to the felony level for people who make AI-generated nonconsensual abuse imagery of a real person”
Fabrication Follies
From the Iowa Capital Dispatch: “A former Iowa lawyer sanctioned for alleged incompetence, contempt of court and mishandling client funds is now accused of attempting to win back his license by citing an ‘imaginary’ case generated by artificial intelligence”
From the ABA Journal [$]: “Confronted with AI hallucinations in filings, one court shows 'justifiable kindness,' while another gets tough”
Data privacy
From The Conversation: “When the government can see everything: How one company – Palantir – is mapping the nation’s data”
A California state legislator has introduced a bill that would prohibit “surveillance pricing” based on information about customer’s devices, including geolocation, phone model and battery life [CA Legislature: SB-259]
Long Reads
Fan, Mary, AI-Enhanced Evidence (February 10, 2025). Boston University Law Review, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5173503 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5173503
Bonardi, Mia and branting, luther, Certifying Legal AI Assistants for Unrepresented Litigants: A Global Survey of Access to Civil Justice, Unauthorized Practice of Law, and AI (July 22, 2024). Columbia Science and Technology Law Review Vol. 26 (2024), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4901658
Alimardani, Armin, Borderline Disaster: An Empirical Study on Student Usage of GenAI in a Law Assignment (November 30, 2024). IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society, 0[10.1109/TTS.2025.3540978], Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5209646 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5209646
Peoples, Lee F., Artificial Intelligence and Legal Analysis: Implications for Legal Education and the Profession (February 03, 2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5123122 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5123122
Magesh, Varun & Surani, Faiz & Dahl, Matthew & Suzgun, Mirac & Manning, Christopher & Ho, Daniel. (2025). Hallucination‐Free? Assessing the Reliability of Leading AI Legal Research Tools. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. https://dho.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/Legal_RAG_Hallucinations.pdf
Jobs
The Institute for Law & AI’s (LawAI) has three winter research fellowships for studying AI law, regulation and best practices - applications are open now and will close on Oct. 12, 2025