2020 January

Legal Tech’s Predictions for Artificial Intelligence in 2020 — from law.com by Zach Warren
We may not have robot lawyers, but lawyers and technologists agree that artificial intelligence will have a major impact on the legal profession in 2020.

Excerpts:

Alex Babin, CEO, Zero: “The biggest gains from automating legal practices will be time saved and improved workflow efficiencies as the AI ‘takes over’ more laborious tasks including litigation support, email, e-discovery, and the use of databases for case management. Lawyers will begin to trust in this process, letting AI perform these basic tasks such as auto-filing document and email for compliance. AI will enhance corporate and regulatory reporting and improves contract creation and management.”

Scott Forman, shareholder, Littler Mendelson and founder of Littler CaseSmart and Littler onDemand: “Data analytics and AI have already fundamentally changed the delivery of legal services, but I expect 2020 to bring a greater understanding of how these technologies enhance, rather than overtake, the work of lawyers. While robots and technology will never replace lawyers, they provide data and insight enabling lawyers to do their jobs faster and better. This includes automating aspects of the legal process—so that lawyers can focus on top-of-the-pyramid work—as well as synthesizing and serving up information that guides litigation strategy, identifies potential areas of risk and moves toward predicting legal outcomes.”

Psalm 90:12

On 01/04/2020, in Daniel S. Christian, faith, global / globalization, relationships, religion, society, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 90:12 New International Version (NIV) — from biblegateway.com

12 Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

From DSC:
Upon reading this scripture again…I couldn’t help but recall the scene from Dicken’s A Christmas Carol where Ebenezer Scrooge approaches his own gravestone and sees his own name engraved upon it. It is one of the last catalysts for his amazing transformation.

How might we change if each of us were to picture our own name on a gravestone on this very day? Would we do anything differently?

I vote against this! “From pizza to transplant organs: What drones will be delivering in the 2020s” [Dormehl]

On 01/04/2020, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, robotics, society, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, trends, United States, user experience (UX), youth, by Daniel Christian

From pizza to transplant organs: What drones will be delivering in the 2020s — from digitaltrends.com by Luke Dormehl

Excerpt:

From drone racing to drone photography, quadcopters and other unmanned aerial vehicles rose to prominence in the 2010s. But in the decade to come they’re going to become an even bigger thing in the next 10 years. Case in point: Deliveries by drone.

Who should you be watching in this space?

From DSC:
While I appreciate Luke’s reporting on this, I am very much against darkening the skies with noisy machines. Again, we adults need to be very careful of the world that we are developing for our kids! If items could be delivered via a system of underground pipes, that would be a different, quieter, not visible, more agreeable approach for me.

Just because we can…

AI fears subside: Most see fundamental change, but not job loss [Ready] + an item on legal engineering

On 01/04/2020, in career development, law schools, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, workplace, by Daniel Christian

AI fears subside: Most see fundamental change, but not job loss — from .law.com by Frank Ready
ILTA released a new Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning report that alludes to fundamental changes coming for the legal industry—but those disruptions may not be happening where one would expect.

Excerpt:

A new Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning report published last week by the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) indicates that while law firms may be expecting AI to yield “fundamental change” within the industry, lawyers shouldn’t count on a significant portion of the work they perform being replaced by software.

Also see:

Legal engineering: A growing trend in software development — from techrepublic.com by Scott Matteson

Some of the topics/items mentioned include:

Technologists join lawyers in creating the legal realm of the future.
Future lawyers will need to either have project managers on staff or be able to manage projects themselves.
Lifelong learning is now critically important. One doesn’t necessarily need to be able to code, but one needs to be constantly learning.
Need to understand legal principles but you will also need to have augmented skills (which will differ from person to person)
New business and delivery models. Don’t presuppose that the current model will always be around.
There will be fewer traditional roles/practices. Traditional roles are sunsetting; new skillsets are needed.
Students: Do your due diligence; read up on the industry and think about whether there’s a good fit. Learn your craft. Get experience. Be who you are. Bring your unique brand to the table.

Reflections on “Indian police are using facial recognition to identify protesters in Delhi” [Toussaint]

On 01/03/2020, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, emerging technologies, ethics, future, game-changing environment, India, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, society, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Indian police are using facial recognition to identify protesters in Delhi — from fastcompany.com by Kristin Toussaint

Excerpt:

At Modi’s rally on December 22, Delhi police used Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) software—which officials there acquired in 2018 as a tool to find and identify missing children—to screen the crowd for faces that match a database of people who have attended other protests around the city, and who officials said could be disruptive.

According to the Indian Express, Delhi police have long filmed these protest events, and the department announced Monday that officials fed that footage through AFRS. Sources told the Indian news outlet that once “identifiable faces” are extracted from that footage, a dataset will point out and retain “habitual protesters” and “rowdy elements.” That dataset was put to use at Modi’s rally to keep away “miscreants who could raise slogans or banners.”

From DSC:
Here in the United States…are we paying attention to today’s emerging technologies and collaboratively working to create a future dream — versus a future nightmare!?! A vendor or organization might propose a beneficial reason to use their product or technology — and it might even meet the hype at times…but then comes along other unintended uses and consequences of that technology. For example, in the article above, what started out as a technology that was supposed to be used to find/identify missing children (a benefit) was later used to identify protesters (an unintended consequence, and a nightmare in terms of such an expanded scope of use I might add)!

Along these lines, the youth of today have every right to voice their opinions and to have a role in developing or torpedoing emerging techs. What we build and put into place now will impact their lives bigtime!

Making Waves – The Art of Cinematic Sound [Woodhall & Costin]

On 01/03/2020, in creativity, design, digital audio, digital storytelling, media/film, story, storytelling, tools, by Daniel Christian

Making Waves — from provideocoalition.com by Woody Woodhall
Interview with Midge Costin

Excerpt:

Making Waves – The Art of Cinematic Sound, is an outstanding achievement not only as a stand-alone documentary film, but also as one of the only films that is dedicated solely to the art of sound for film. As we all know, when films started, sound was either done live with musical accompaniment or was simply exhibited silently.

It is a huge challenge to tackle such a wide ranging and meaningful advancement for film storytelling and yet undeterred, Midge Costin, herself a working sound professional, took it on. We spoke at length about her work on the film and her work as a filmmaker with sound, and as an educator.

Pantone Swatches by Andrea Antoni [fubiz.net]

On 01/03/2020, in art, creativity, digital photography, photography, by Daniel Christian

Pantone Swatches by Andrea Antoni — from fubiz.net

2 items re: college affordability + 2 other items re: higher education

On 01/03/2020, in 21st century, business side of he, change, colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, parents/guardians, student-related, trends, United States, universities, youth, by Daniel Christian

The cost of college increased by more than 25% in the last 10 years—here’s why — from cnbc.com by Abigail Hess

Excerpt:

During the 1978 – 1979 school year, it cost the modern equivalent of $17,680 per year to attend a private college and $8,250 per year to attend a public college. By the 2008 – 2009 school year those costs had grown to $38,720 at private colleges and $16,460 at public colleges.

Today, those costs are closer to $48,510 and $21,370, respectively. That means costs increased by roughly 25.3% at private colleges and about 29.8% at public colleges.

Also see:

How affordable are public colleges in your state for low-income students?

Students from low-income backgrounds should be able to attend college without shouldering a debt burden or having to work so many hours that they jeopardize their chances of completing a degree. But that’s just not possible today.

Think students today can work their way through college? Think again.

For millions of college-going students, one of the most urgent concerns is the rising cost of college and how to pay for it — and not just for tuition but other necessities like textbooks, housing, food, and transportation. The idea that one can work one’s way through college with a minimum-wage job is, in most cases, a myth. In the vast majority of states, students at public four-year institutions would have to work an excessive number of hours per week to cover such costs. The same goes for students at many public community and technical colleges. In one of the costliest scenarios, students would have to work 45 hours a week to be exact, leaving nearly no time to focus on academics.

Overall, students from low-income backgrounds, despite access to financial aid, are being asked to pay well beyond their means for a college degree. In the following analysis, we look closely at just how much beyond their means.

Also see:

Half in U.S. now consider college education very important — from news.gallup.com by Stephanie Marken; with thanks to Ray Schroeder for his posting on LinkedIn on this item

Also see:

Ratings agencies post mixed outlooks for higher education — from insidehighered.com by Rick Seltzer

Web Technologies of the Year 2019 [w3techs.com]

On 01/03/2020, in career development, CMS/LMS, computer science, internet, programming, technology (general), tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Web Technologies of the Year 2019 — from w3techs.com

Excerpts:
These are the technologies that gained most sites in 2019 in areas such as:

Content Management System of the Year 2019
Server-side Programming Language of the Year 2019
JavaScript Library of the Year 2019
Web Server of the Year 2019
Operating System of the Year 2019
Traffic Analysis Tool of the Year 2019
…and several more categories

Online courts, the future of justice and being bold in 2020 [Kaplan]

On 01/03/2020, in future, ideas, innovation, internet, law schools, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, by Daniel Christian

Online courts, the future of justice and being bold in 2020 — from abajournal.com by Ari Kaplan

Excerpt:

Ari Kaplan: How do you define online courts?

Richard Susskind: I describe two aspects of online courts in the book. The first is ‘online judging,’ which supports the idea that human judges, not artificial intelligence, should decide cases, not in a physical courtroom or through oral hearings but by the submission of evidence and arguments by the parties online. It is an asynchronous hearing system where the parties pass messages and arguments to the judge remotely and receive responses in kind. I am entirely open to the argument that this is not suitable for all cases, but there are many low-volume matters for which it is simply disproportionate to take the day off work or for lawyers to take up a court’s time to resolve relatively modest difficulties and differences. The second aspect of online courts is, in a way, more controversial. I call it ‘extended courts’ and suggest that it should be part of the court function to provide a range of tools to help the parties understand their rights and obligations. These resources could help them formulate arguments, gather and organize evidence, and provide ways for the parties to resolve disputes with one another similar to online alternative dispute resolution. This combination of judges making decisions online together with an extended court structure will greatly increase access to justice.

Addendum on 1/7/20:

Online Courts and the Future of Justice from State Courts on Vimeo.

AI arms race [Burke]

On 01/03/2020, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, graphics, student-related, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

AI arms race — insidehighered.com by Lilah Burke
More employers are using applicant tracking systems to hire employees. Some colleges are using new AI-based tools, like VMock, to help students keep up.

Excerpt:

When college students need help with their résumés, some now will be turning to algorithms rather than advisers.

In the last decade, a growing number of large companies have started hiring using applicant tracking systems, AI-based platforms that scan résumés for keywords and rank job candidates.

Similarly, video interviewing platforms that use algorithms to evaluate a candidate’s voice, gestures and emotions have become ubiquitous in some industries. HireVue, the most well-known of these platforms, has drawn accusations of being pseudoscientific and potentially exacerbating bias in hiring.

The frustration many job candidates voice when coming up against these platforms is that they have no way of knowing what they could have done better. The systems give no feedback to candidates.

So what if students, job seekers and career advisers could use the AI for themselves?

Boston University, in a document of VMock tips for students, also advised graphic design or other creative industry students to have two versions of their résumé, one with a conventional layout.

From DSC:
Per my nephew, who works in a recruiting type of position within HR for a Fortune 500 organization:

Without a doubt HR recruiting is using AI to help in the selection process.
Many companies use keyword scanners, but not everyone [and, in fact, his company did not].
HireVue is very important to use when it comes to understanding a person’s presentation skills since a lot of presenting is done via Skype/live video these days. So HireVue is not going away anytime soon. I think it’s a great system/product.
At the end of the day, a good recruiter will identify the best talent that has applied to a position. I think it’s important for students to really think about what position they’re applying for and be realistic with their applications. I think that’s where a lot of frustration happens with students that apply to positions and never get to the first round interview. They apply to 20-50 positions that don’t reflect their experience at all…so that’s where coaching and personal advisement is important

Learning Ecosystems

Psalm 90:12

I vote against this! “From pizza to transplant organs: What drones will be delivering in the 2020s” [Dormehl]

AI fears subside: Most see fundamental change, but not job loss [Ready] + an item on legal engineering

Reflections on “Indian police are using facial recognition to identify protesters in Delhi” [Toussaint]

Making Waves – The Art of Cinematic Sound [Woodhall & Costin]

Pantone Swatches by Andrea Antoni [fubiz.net]

Web Technologies of the Year 2019 [w3techs.com]

Online courts, the future of justice and being bold in 2020 [Kaplan]

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