Lawyer Ex Machina #51: AI regulation week
AI
Congressional actions
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources- "Recent Advances in Artificial Intelligence and The Department of Energy’s Role in Ensuring U.S. Competitiveness and Security in Emerging Technologies"; September 7, 2023
Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology & the Law - "Oversight of A.I.: Legislating on Artificial Intelligence"; September 12, 2023
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security, “The Need for Transparency in Artificial Intelligence”;
AI Insight Forum - closed-door Senate meeting organized by Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) with tech leaders to hold "a candid debate about how Congress can tackle the opportunities and challenges of AI"; September 13, 2023 [Barrons | NY Times | PBS | Speech by Sen. Schumer]
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security - "How are Federal Agencies Harnessing Artificial Intelligence?"; September 14, 2023
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced late last week a bipartisan framework for regulating AI, including a licensing regime for companies developing AI models and no protection for AI content under Section 230. [The Hill | NY Times]
Other
The IRS will start developing and utilizing AI tools to detect tax evasion.
UNESCO has published a report providing guidance on GenAI for education and research use.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in the Hague has signaled that the court will start investigating and prosecuting cyberwar crimes under existing international law conventions. [Wired ($)]
From Politico: "Google to require disclosure of AI use in political ads"
Another week, another lawsuit against OpenAI (and Meta, separate) alleging copyright infringement in the training of AI chatbots - award-winning author Michael Chabon is the named plantiff in the proposed class actions. [Chabon v OpenAI docket | Chabon v Meta docket | Law360 |
Stanford Law School copyright professor Paul Goldstein on AI, copyright, creativity, and the writer's strike in Hollywood
From The Verge: "Microsoft is telling customers it will assume legal responsibility if they get sued for copyright infringement while using the company’s AI Copilot services"
Blockchain
New York Magazine [$] has an excerpt of a new crypto-skepticism book, Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux
From CNBC: Lisbon, Portugal, has emerged as a welcoming hub for crypto enthusiasts.
Also from CNBC: "Texas paid bitcoin miner Riot $31.7 million to shut down during heat wave in August"
This is, to be honest, tangential to blockchain technology, but it's rare to see an article that touches on alleged cryptocurrency fraud and prison abolition
Data Privacy
The California Assembly has passed SB 362, the California Delete Act, which mandates data brokers to register with the California Privacy Protection Agency and charges the agency with creating an "accessible deletion mechanism" to allow consumers to request removal of personal information from data brokers; it goes back to the Senate for concurrence with Assembly amendments [Bill information & status | Politico | LA Times | EFF]
Long Reads
Rebecca Fordon, The Truth About Hallucinations in Legal Research AI: How to Avoid Them and Trust Your Sources, AI Law Librarians [Blog], Sept. 14, 2023, https://www.ailawlibrarians.com/2023/09/14/the-truth-about-hallucinations-in-legal-research-ai-how-to-avoid-them-and-trust-your-sources/
Alex Alben, Why any Remake of Antitrust Law for the Digital Economy Should Advance the Principles of Consumer Protection and Free Competition, 28 UCLA J. L. & Tech. 3, https://uclajolt.com/breaking-up-is-hard-to-do-why-any-remake-of-antitrust-law-for-the-digital-economy-should-advance-the-principles-of-consumer-protection-and-free-competition-vol-28-no-3/