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A small newsletter on legaltech
AI
From StateScoop: “A study published last week by the Public Technology Institute shows that while a majority of city and county IT executives are developing AI policies, 38% report feeling their organizations are unprepared to use artificial intelligence tools in safe and productive ways”
A lawsuit alleging that an AI-enhanced landlord screening tool discriminated against applicants based on race and income levels has settled
Lexis responds to the Canadian law professor who criticized Lexis+ AI in a legal magazine [Artificial Lawyer | Legal IT Insider]
A federal magistrate judge in Massachusetts has found that a high school did nothing wrong in punishing a student accused of cheating by using a GenAI tool for a project [Order]
An attorney in Beaumont, TX has been sanctioned for providing fictitious case citations in a federal court case; the lawyer must pay a $2,000 penalty and attend a one-hour TX CLE course on “generative AI in the legal field” [Law360 ($) | Legal Dive | Docket & Order]
[Since I cannot beat this headline] Stanford Daily: “Stanford misinformation expert accused of using AI to fabricate court statement" [Update from SF Gate]
Blockchain/Digital Currency
Alexander Mashinsky, founder and former CEO of Celsius Networks, a cryptocurrency lending platform, pleaded guilty to fraud charges this week.
The CEO of Coinbase has issued a warning that it would ceasing its business with any law firm that hires former SEC personnel that are considered “hostile” to the cryptocurrency industry [Yahoo! Finance | Bloomberg Law ($) | Reuters]
Data Privacy
What some have called “the largest telecommunications hack in U.S. history” is still occurring, and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency has issued a notice recommending end-to-end encryption for voice and messaging services [CyberScoop | Bleeping Computer | CISA guidance]
From The Verge: “Two data brokers banned from selling ‘sensitive’ location data by the FTC”
Long Reads
Harrington, Sean, Introducing QuizBot an Innovative AI-Assisted Assessment in Legal Education (October 03, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4975804 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4975804
Ebrahim, Tabrez, Justice Tech (November 12, 2024). 102 Denver Law Review Forum (2024), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5019264 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5019264
Recording of book talk with legal scholar JAMES BOYLE, discussing his book THE LINE: AI and the Future of Personhood, in conversation with KATE DARLING of the MIT Media Lab https://archive.org/details/the-line-ai-and-the-future-of-personhood