Lawyer Ex Machina #27: the AI generation
[Editor's note; This week's newletter is longer than usual because so much appears so timely, especially ChatGPT ...]
ChatGPT
First - did ChatGPT really take a bar exam and what were the results? [LawNext podcast | SSRN]
3 Geeks and A Law Blog consider the 'perils and promise' of ChatGPT for lawyers.
From TaxProf Blog: "Using ChatGPT To Write Law School Exams, Bar Exams, And Strategic Plans"
As academics grow concerned about ChatGPT's use by students for exams and essays, AI text detection tools are already being publicized.
From Time.com: OpenAI outsourced labeling of sensitive and offensive content in the training data for ChatGPT to a Kenyan firm. (Warning: article includes descriptions of sexual abuse and violence.)
NY Times:
"Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach"
Guest Essay - "How ChatGPT Hijacks Democracy"
Other AI
The same group of lawyers suing Microsoft, OpenAI and Github over a generative AI project involving software code have filed suit on behalf of 3 artists, arguing that AI image generators like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney are violating those artists' (and many others') intellectual property and contractual rights. [Plaintiffs' attorney website on the litigation | Docket]
Getty Images has announced in a press statement that it will file a lawsuit against the creators of Stable Diffusion in the High Court of Justice in London accusing them of using stock photos without a license. [Verge article | statement]
The EEOC has issued a draft of its Strategic Enforcement Plan for the next five years. [Summary] Under emerging/developing issues, the agency announced:
(e) Technology-related employment discrimination. The EEOC will focus on employment decisions, practices, or policies in which covered entities’ use of technology contributes to discrimination based on a protected characteristic. These may include, for example, the use of software that incorporates algorithmic decisionmaking or machine learning, including artificial intelligence; use of automated recruitment, selection, or production and performance management tools; or other existing or emerging technological tools used in employment decisions.
Blockchain/Crypto
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has launched a Substack newsletter with two entries so far.
A lab at Stanford University is using blockchain technology to document war crimes in Ukraine, for submission to the International Criminal Court at the Hague.
Events
The Institute for Technology, Law & Policy is hosting in-person, one hour, bi-weekly Tech Talk for the Spring 2023 Semester. The series will feature different speakers who are experts in the tech and law space. The first speaker will be Justin Longo on facial recognition: Wednesday, Jan. 25, 12:15 p.m.
American Legal Technology, a Slack community devoted to legaltech issues, is hosting a panel discussion on ChatGPT and possible effects on the legal industry: Wednesday, Jan. 25, 3-4 p.m. PST.
Long-reads