Lawyer Ex Machina: Winding down 2023
AI
After negotiating for 22 hours, negotiators for the European Union and its member states are pausing talks on final passage of the AI Act until Friday [Bloomberg ($) | Reuters | Time]
There are rumors that Sen. Josh Hawley (R - Mo.) will try to pass his No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act today through a motion for unanimous consent [WaPo ($) | TechDirt]
The ABA's Civil Rights and Social Justice (CRSJ) Section has initial results from a practitioner's survey on AI
Politico is reporting that the California Legislature is planning to introduce a dozen bills next year to regulate AI
Technologist and security researcher Bruce Schneier has an op/ed on the potential for AI to make mass spying feasible
The Florida State Bar has issued Proposed Advisory Opinion 24-1, on attorney use of GenAI tools in the practice of law
Blockchain/digital currency
From The Financial Times [$]: "Inside France's courtship of Biance"
Data Privacy
23andMe has finally confirmed that 6.9 millions users had their information downloaded by hackers in a breach first reported in October
Related: 23andMe has changed the Dispute Resolution and Arbitration section of its Terms of Service, with a 30-day notice to opt out of the new terms
Security flaws in court records systems have exposed sealed filings with sensitive information in jurisdictions in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee
Sen. Ron Wyden (D - Ore.) has sent a letter to the Department of Justice detailing how the U.S. and foreign governments are demanding push notification records from Apple and Google to spy on users [Ars Technica | Letter]
Miscellaneous
The Board of Trustees of The Florida State Bar voted to withdraw a proposed advisory opinion as to whether Florida attorneys "may be a passive investor in an 'alternative business structure' that provides legal services in another state but does not maintain any presence in Florida or provide Florida legal services"
Long Reads
Andrew Blair-Stanek, Nils Holzenberger, Benjamin Van Durme, "BLT: Can Large Language Models Handle Basic Legal Text?," Nov. 16, 2023, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.09693