Lawyer Ex Machina #45 - Summer ed. - June 2023
AI
"European Parliament lawmakers on Wednesday passed the landmark Artificial Intelligence Act, putting the bloc a critical step closer to formally adopting the world’s first major set of comprehensive rules regulating AI technology." [Foreign Policy]
The (somewhat beleaguered) California State Bar is looking at developing guidance on AI usage by legal professionals. [Law.com ($)]
Bloomberg ($) conducted an experiment with the AI image generator, Stable Diffusion, requesting thousands of images based on prompts related to employment and crime. The reporters found that the program "amplifies stereotypes about race and gender" [Article currently unpaywalled as of this writing]
McKinsey Global Institute has released a study claiming that "Generative AI’s impact on productivity could add trillions of dollars in value to the global economy."
Mata v. Avianca and ChatGPT
From LegalDive: "Issues beyond ChatGPT use were at play in fake cases scandal"
TechDirt: "The sanctions hearing for ChatGPT using lawyers did not go well.
Several judges are now requiring certifications regarding use of ChatGPT and related tools in legal materials submitted in their courts:
U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr (N.D. Tx.)
Judge Stephen Vaden (Ct. Int'l Trade)
Magistrate Judge Gabriel A. Fuentes (N.D. Ill.)
Another attorney was found to have submitted fictitious case citations wholly created by ChatGPT in a motion.
The MIT Computational Law Report convened a task force on Responsible Use of Generative AI for Law and have drafted a set of principles for legal use of AI (they are also looking for feedback on the draft).
A lawsuit alleging defamation by ChatGPT has been filed against OpenAI. [Story | Complaint | Eugene Volokh analysis]
AI (but not GenAI) is helping to give us the "final Beatles record" later this year, according to Sir Paul McCartney.
Lexis's recent study on GenAI adoption for legal practice reveals that for now, law students are hesitating to use for legal study and work.
Human Rights Watch has issued a report on the use of an algorithm to determine eligibility for cash assistance in Jordan, funded by the World Bank, that is depriving funds to families who should qualify.
From Law360: "9 Things For Companies to Consider Before Using AI Tools" [Ed. note: if you follow AI news regularly, the list isn't new, but it's a handy encapsulation of the various issues posed by LLM usage within companies]
Blockchain
https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/1665746179026563072?s=20
The SEC brought 13 charges against the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, and its founder, Changpeng Zhao. [Molly White analysis| Complaint]
Related: The judge overseeing the case denied the SEC's request for a restraining order that would freeze Binance.US's assets
The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase for operating as and "unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency." [Story | Complaint]
From Wired ($): "Bankrupt Crypto Companies Are Fighting Over a Dwindling Pot of Money"
The Brookings Institute's podcast has a new episode on "What do the SEC’s lawsuits signal for the future of cryptocurrency?"
Data Privacy
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is extending its deadline for public comments about data brokers and their practices in collecting and selling personal information. The new deadline for comments is July 15th.
Amazon is settling 2 suits brought by the Federal Trade Commission over alleged privacy violations arising from data collected from Ring and Alexa.
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Federal Judge Makes History in Holding That Border Searches of Cell Phones Require a Warrant
Miscellaneous
From Yale Law professor Scott Shapiro in The New York Times($): "This Is Why I Teach My Law Students How to Hack"
Longish Reads
Blair-Stanek, Andrew and Carstens, Anne-Marie and Goldberg, Daniel S. and Graber, Mark and Gray, David C. and Stearns, Maxwell L., GPT-4’s Law School Grades: Con Law C, Crim C-, Law & Econ C, Partnership Tax B, Property B-, Tax B (May 9, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4443471 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4443471
Martínez, Eric, Re-Evaluating GPT-4's Bar Exam Performance (May 8, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4441311 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4441311
Parsons, Patrick and Dewey, Michelle and Niedringhaus, Kristina L., Georgia State Legal Technology Competency Model: A Framework for Examining and Evaluating What It Means to Be a Technologically Competent Lawyer (November 4, 2022). University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Symposium Issue, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4411686
Grossman, Maura and Grimm, Paul and Brown, Dan and Xu, Molly, The GPTJudge: Justice in a Generative AI World (May 23, 2023). Duke Law & Technology Review, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2023, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4460184
Not a read, but a long-view YouTube video (nearly 1 hour, 31 minutes): Prof. James Tasioulas on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and a Right to a Human Decision