Perspective.

https://abovethelaw.com/2024/04/artificial-intelligence-may-not-disrupt-the-legal-profession-for-a-while/

Artificial Intelligence May Not Disrupt The Legal Profession For A While

The work of artificial intelligence definitely still needs to be reviewed by a lawyer.

Ever since ChatGPT roared onto the scene over a year ago, everyone has been talking about how the world will change due to advances in artificial intelligence. Many commentators have singled out the legal industry as a sector that will be particularly impacted by artificial intelligence, since much of the rote work performed by associates can presumably be handled by artificial intelligence in the coming years. Initially, I also believed that artificial intelligence would have a huge impact on the legal profession in the short term, but it now seems that the legal profession will not be materially affected for at least several years, if not longer.

I might find this useful.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-and-mit-launch-a-free-generative-ai-course-for-teachers/

Google and MIT launch a free generative AI course for teachers

When considering generative AI in the classroom, many people think of its potential for students; however, teachers can benefit just as much from the technology, if not more. On Thursday, Google and MIT Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE) unveiled a free Google Generative AI Educators course to help middle and high school teachers use generative AI tools to enhance their workflow and students' classroom experience.

The self-paced, two-hour course instructs teachers how to use generative AI to save time in everyday tasks such as writing emails, modifying content for different reading levels, building creative assessments, structuring activities to students' interests, and more, according to the press release. Teachers can even learn how to use generative AI to help with one of the most time-consuming tasks – lesson planning – by inputting their existing lesson plan into the generative AI models to get ideas on what to do next in the classroom.

https://skillshop.exceedlms.com/student/path/1176018

Instagram will be looking at every image you send or receive, then modify (blur) the image and finally provide legal advice where it seems appropriate?

https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/instagram-to-start-blurring-nude-images-in-messages-to-protect-teens-38f8d9c6?st=przebf72a9696mg&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Instagram to Start Blurring Nude Images in Messages to Protect Teens

… Instagram is now taking a meaningful step to contain the problem, by automatically detecting and blurring nudes in its direct-messaging service.

… Instagram users who receive nude images via direct messages will see a pop-up explaining how to block the sender or report the chat, and a note encouraging the recipient not to feel pressure to respond. People who attempt to send a nude via direct messages will be advised to be cautious and receive a reminder that they can unsend a pic.

If teens receive a nude image on Instagram, the picture will be blurred and they will see a message steering them to safety tips.

… The new feature—to be tested in the coming weeks and expected to roll out globally over the next few months—will be on by default for accounts with birth dates corresponding to teenagers, said Instagram’s parent, Meta Platforms. Teens can disable it if they want. Adult accounts will be encouraged to enable the feature.

Narrowing the definition?

https://www.bespacific.com/uspto-ai-guidance-highlights-risks-for-practitioners-and-public/

USPTO AI Guidance Highlights Risks for Practitioners and Public

IP Watchdog: “The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced guidance for practitioners and the public regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the preparation of filings for submission to the Office. The guidance comes two months after the Office issued a guidance memorandum for the Trademark and Patent Trial and Appeal Boards (TTAB and PTAB) on the misuse of AI tools before the Boards that clarified the application of existing rules to AI submissions. That guidance was in part prompted by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ 2023 year-end report, which acknowledged both the benefits and dangers of AI in the context of the legal profession. It also noted President Biden’s Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI, which directed the USPTO Director to issue recommendations to the President, in consultation with the Director of the Copyright Office, on potential executive actions to be taken relating to copyright and AI. Today’s draft Federal Register Notice builds upon the February guidance and is aimed at reminding professionals, innovators, and entrepreneurs of the existing USPTO rules that protect against the potential “perils” of AI. These include the Duty of Candor and Good Faith; the Signature Requirement; Confidentiality of Information; Foreign Filing Licenses and Export Regulations; existing electronic systems’ policies; and duties owed to clients…”

This could get a bit complicated if I’m scanning the web. What percentage of websites clearly label the copyright owner of each article?

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4583318-schiff-unveils-ai-training-transparency-measure/

Schiff unveils AI training transparency measure

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) unveiled legislation on Tuesday that would require companies using copyrighted material to train their generative artificial intelligence models to publicly disclose all of the work that they used to do so.

The bill, called the “Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act,” would require people creating training datasets – or making any significant changes to a dataset – to submit a notice to the Register of Copyrights with a “detailed summary of any copyrighted works used” and the URL for any publicly available material.

… The Register of Copyrights would then publish an online database available to the public with all the notices.

I wonder who persuaded the author to write this article?

https://www.ft.com/content/69caf324-2ac0-4b53-a0b4-1f2ecae6e29e

The US is right to target TikTok

The US House of Representatives in March overwhelmingly passed a bill to force divestiture of TikTok from its Chinese parent. Many in Silicon Valley are against this bill but I staunchly support it. Neither I nor my firm stands to gain or lose anything on the back of this bill’s outcome, but I can see how TikTok can be weaponised by a foreign adversary.

This TikTok divestiture is about preventing a foreign adversary from controlling a platform to deploy what I call “persuasive AI”, to surreptitiously manipulate US citizens, compromise elections, push divisive content, and otherwise promote the objectives of the Chinese Communist Party. Some think we can prevent these problems with narrow legislation restricting the transfer of data. But none of these harms require data to be transferred. Privacy safeguards will not solve this problem.

Should it be?

https://www.bespacific.com/law-is-not-code-on-algorithms-and-the-concept-of-law/

Law is not Code: On Algorithms and the Concept of Law

Bezemek, Christoph, Law is not Code: On Algorithms and the Concept of Law (February 20, 2022). Studiengesellschaft für Wirtschaft und Recht (ed), Algorithmen im Wirtschaftsrecht (2023), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4696725 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4696725

“This piece addresses the (profound) differences and the (superficial) similarities between law and algorithms on a conceptual basis and invites the reader to reengage in the debate as to what law is and how it embodies and transmits the shared values of a political community.”

Tools & Techniques.

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-bypass-a-paywall-to-read-an-article-for-free

How to Get Past a Paywall to Read an Article for Free

… But whether you lost your password, haven’t saved it on your phone, are in a rush, or are just strapped for cash and promise yourself that you’ll subscribe later, there are several ways to bypass paywalls on the internet.

I agree (not that anyone cares)

https://teachprivacy.com/ai-algorithms-and-awful-humans-final-published-version/

AI, Algorithms, and Awful Humans

This Essay critiques arguments that algorithmic decision-making is better than human decision-making. Two arguments are often advanced to justify the increasing use of algorithms in decisions. The “Awful Human Argument” asserts that human decision-making is often awful and that machines can decide better than humans. Another argument, the “Better Together Argument,” posits that machines can augment and improve human decision-making. We argue that such contentions are far too optimistic and fail to appreciate the shortcomings of machine decisions and the difficulties in combining human and machine decision-making. Automated decisions often rely too much on quantifiable data to the exclusion of qualitative data, resulting in a change to the nature of the decision itself. Whereas certain matters might be readily reducible to quantifiable data, such as the weather, human lives are far more complex. Human and machine decision-making often do not mix well. Humans often perform badly when reviewing algorithmic output.

Download the piece for free here:

Keep current.

https://www.bespacific.com/us-state-by-state-ai-legislation-snapshot/

US state-by-state AI legislation snapshot

“BCLP actively tracks the proposed, failed and enacted AI regulatory bills from across the United States to help our clients stay informed in this rapidly-changing regulatory landscape. The interactive map is current as of February 12, 2024, and will be updated quarterly to include legislation that if passed would directly impact a businesses’ development or deployment of AI solutions. Artificial Intelligence (AI), once limited to the pages of science fiction novels, has now been adopted by more than 1/3 of businesses in the United States, and even more organizations are working to embed AI into current applications and processes. As companies increasingly integrate AI in their products, services, processes, and decision-making, they need to do so in ways that comply with the different state laws that have been passed and proposed to regulate the use of AI. Select a state for more information.”

Should I hold my breath?

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4581269-5-things-to-know-about-the-bipartisan-data-privacy-bill/

5 things to know about the bipartisan data privacy bill

The chairs of the House and Senate Commerce committees unveiled a discussion draft of a long-awaited bipartisan data privacy bill Sunday evening.

Another warning of an AI apocalypse.

https://www.bespacific.com/the-ai-deepfake-apocalypse-is-here/

The AI deepfake apocalypse is here

Washington Post [unpaywalled ]: “AI-generated images are everywhere. They’re being used to make nonconsensual pornography, muddy the truth during elections and promote products on social media using celebrity impersonations. When Princess Catherine released a video last month disclosing that she had cancer, social media went abuzz with the latest baseless claim that artificial intelligence was used to manipulate the video. Both BBC Studios, which shot the video, and Kensington Palace denied AI was involved. But it didn’t stop the speculation. Experts say the problem is only going to get worse. Today, the quality of some fake images is so good that they’re nearly impossible to distinguish from real ones. In one prominent case, a finance manager at a Hong Kong bank wired about $25.6 million to fraudsters who used AI to pose as the worker’s bosses on a video call. And the tools to make these fakes are free and widely available. A growing group of researchers, academics and start-up founders are working on ways to track and label AI content. Using a variety of methods and forming alliances with news organizations, Big Tech companies and even camera manufacturers, they hope to keep AI images from further eroding the public’s ability to understand what’s true and what isn’t. “A year ago, we were still seeing AI images and they were goofy,” said Rijul Gupta, founder and CEO of DeepMedia AI, a deepfake detection start-up. “Now they’re perfect.” Here’s a rundown of the major methods being developed to hold back the AI image apocalypse…”

Curious. If students rewrite based on their ChatGPT feedback why would the teacher’s ChatGPT find anything to critique.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/tech/teachers-grading-ai/

Teachers are using AI to grade essays. But some experts are raising ethical concerns

When Diane Gayeski, a professor of strategic communications at Ithaca College, receives an essay from one of her students, she runs part of it through ChatGPT, asking the AI tool to critique and suggest how to improve the work.

“The best way to look at AI for grading is as a teaching assistant or research assistant who might do a first pass … and it does a pretty good job at that,” she told CNN.

She shows her students the feedback from ChatGPT and how the tool rewrote their essay. “I’ll share what I think about their intro, too, and we’ll talk about it,” she said.

Gayeski requires her class of 15 students to do the same: run their draft through ChatGPT to see where they can make improvements.

… She suggested teachers use AI to look at certain metrics — such as structure, language use and grammar — and give a numerical score on those figures. But teachers should then grade students’ work themselves when looking for novelty, creativity and depth of insight.

Perspective.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3656033.3656036

Is Copyright Law the New Turing Test?

In December 2023, the New York Times Company filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for the "defendants' unlawful use of The Time's work to create artificial intelligence products..." [8]. While this lawsuit alone should interest the Computers and Society community, it struck me that its eventual judgment might serve as an interesting exhibit as to whether computers are creative in their intelligent thinking?1 This Parting Opinion focuses on this question. As usual, I'll present some background context to set the stage, before diving into the primary question at hand. As a bit of nostalgia, let's begin with the early days of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quickly move to the present.