Perspective.

https://www.bespacific.com/the-rapid-adoption-of-generative-ai/

The Rapid Adoption of Generative AI

NBER – The Rapid Adoption of Generative AI.  Alexander Bick. Adam Blandin & David J. Deming. Working Paper 32966.  DOI 10.3386/w32966. Issue Date September 2024.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a potentially important new technology, but its impact on the economy depends on the speed and intensity of adoption. This paper reports results from the first nationally representative U.S. survey of generative AI adoption at work and at home. In August 2024, 39 percent of the U.S. population age 18-64 used generative AI. More than 24 percent of workers used it at least once in the week prior to being surveyed, and nearly one in nine used it every workday. Historical data on usage and mass-market product launches suggest that U.S. adoption of generative AI has been faster than adoption of the personal computer and the internet. Generative AI is a general purpose technology, in the sense that it is used in a wide range of occupations and job tasks at work and at home.

The law business is changing…

https://hbr.org/2024/10/gen-ai-makes-legal-action-cheap-and-companies-need-to-prepare

Gen AI Makes Legal Action Cheap — and Companies Need to Prepare

Last year, in order to enhance tax compliance, the U.S. Treasury Department proposed a rule designed to increase cryptocurrency disclosures. The crypto industry thought the obligations were too broad and pushed back hard — with the support of an unconventional ally.

The “LexPunk Army,” a community of lawyers and developers providing open-source legal support for the decentralized finance industry, released an AI bot that anyone could use to file comments on the proposed rule. The effect was threefold: First, anyone with a comment could easily file it in the correct format. Second, an onslaught of comments slowed down Treasury action, potentially delaying or jeopardizing the rule. Third, the comments laid groundwork for a future legal challenge.

The median number of comments on a new regulation is three, but in this case the rule elicited 120,000 comments.

… Is this a one-off victory for a niche group savvy about technology and the law? Or is it indicative of a broader disruption in how individuals and businesses will engage with the law?

We believe it is the latter — a prototypical example of how technology will amplify legal services and processes in new ways that pose great promise and great challenges to governments and companies alike.

Perspective.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-future-is-hybrid?emailConfirmed=true&supportSignUp=true&supportForgotPassword=true&email=bob_voorhees%40hotmail.com&success=true&code=success&bc_nonce=vzncx4rlizpucvad6eons

The Future Is Hybrid

Last year Dan Myers and Anne Murdaugh introduced generative AI in several courses at Rollins College. But they did more than tell students it was OK to use those tools in assignments. They required them to.

Students completed semester-long research projects using Claude and Copilot to brainstorm paper topics, conduct literature reviews, develop a thesis, and outline, draft, and revise their papers. At each step, students used logbooks to write down the prompts they used, the responses they received, and how the experience shaped their thinking.

The two professors were impressed with how engaged the students were in the process, while the students described where they thought the AI had helped, such as in brainstorming and outlining, and where it wasn’t as useful. Meaningful literature reviews still required lots of independent work, for example, and many found AI writing underwhelming, preferring their own words.

… This shift toward collaborating with AI doesn’t unsettle Myers or Murdaugh in the way that it has many professors. The reason, they say, is that the skills that students use to engage thoughtfully with AI are the same ones that colleges are good at teaching. Namely: knowing how to obtain and use information, thinking critically and analytically, and understanding what and how you’re trying to communicate.