policy

From DSC:
As I looked at the article below, I couldn’t help but wonder…what is the role of the American Bar Association (ABA) in this type situation? How can the ABA help the United States deal with the impact/place of emerging technologies?

Clearview AI will get a US patent for its facial recognition tech — from engadget.com by J. Fingas
Critics are worried the company is patenting invasive tech.

Excerpt:

Clearview AI is about to get formal acknowledgment for its controversial facial recognition technology. Politico reports Clearview has received a US Patent and Trademark Office “notice of allowance” indicating officials will approve a filing for its system, which scans faces across public internet data to find people from government lists and security camera footage. The company just has to pay administrative fees to secure the patent.

In a Politico interview, Clearview founder Hoan Ton-That claimed this was the first facial recognition patent involving “large-scale internet data.” The firm sells its tool to government clients (including law enforcement) hoping to accelerate searches.

As you might imagine, there’s a concern the USPTO is effectively blessing Clearview’s technology and giving the company a chance to grow despite widespread objections to its technology’s very existence.

Privacy, news, facial recognition, USPTO, internet, patent,
Clearview AI, surveillance, tomorrow, AI, artificial intelligence

Ohio State U. Unveils a Plan for All Students to Graduate Debt-Free [Kelderman]

On 11/26/2021, in experimentation, funding / grants, higher education, ideas, leadership, policy, society, sociology, strategy, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Ohio State U. Unveils a Plan for All Students to Graduate Debt-Free — from chronicle.com by Eric Kelderman

Excerpt:

Nearly half of all undergraduates at Ohio State University take out loans to help pay the costs of attending college, borrowing an average of more than $27,000. Kristina M. Johnson, the new president of the land-grant university, wants to reduce that proportion to zero.

Johnson announced a plan on Friday, at her investiture, to reach that goal within a decade.

Instead of offering students federal direct loans as part of their financial-aid packages, the university will use a combination of grants, internships, and opportunities to assist with research.

“People without family means, which includes many of the country’s minority students, start their adult lives in a financial hole,” Johnson said during her investiture speech. “I want all of our graduates to be free to say yes to every great opportunity that comes their way.”

AI bots to user data: Is there space for rights in the metaverse? [Elks]

On 11/17/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, data related items, Facebook / Meta Platforms, innovation, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, Metaverse, platforms, policy, by Daniel Christian

AI bots to user data: Is there space for rights in the metaverse? — from reuters.com by Sonia Elks

Summary

Facebook’s ‘metaverse’ plans fuel debate on virtual world
Shared digital spaces raise privacy, ownership questions
Rights campaigners urge regulators to widen safeguards

Legal education as a key stakeholder in legal services reform (276) [Rodriguez]

On 11/15/2021, in law schools, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, policy, society, by Daniel Christian

Legal education as a key stakeholder in legal services reform (276) — from legalevolution.org by Dan Rodriguez
To date, this highly influential stakeholder has had very little to say.

Excerpt:

The fierce and fascinating struggle underway in the American states over legal services reform brings to the table a large collection of interest groups. These groups include law firms, legal aid organizations, entrepreneurs who might benefit financially from the liberalization of entry rules, and of course the gatekeeper entities, including state bar authorities and the state supreme courts, whose decisions are crucial to the evolution and shape of reform. See Posts 239 (beginning of a four-part series on serious challenges of bar federalism).

The identity of these specific groups may differ from state to state, as the legal ecosystem has contours often tailored to a particular state’s history and objectives, but the configuration of stakeholders has some rather common elements.

What remains somewhat opaque in this robust and interconnected battle over the reform of legal services is the voice of legal educators and the law schools. These are, after all, the places in which future lawyers are educated and professional values are instilled. It is had to imagine a more fertile and opportune time to discuss the ambitions and philosophies of this next generation of legal professionals.

Excerpt from “Use of digital technologies in judicial reform and access to justice cooperation — from HiiL (The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law)

Timnit Gebru Says Artificial Intelligence Needs to Slow Down — from wired.com by Max Levy
The AI researcher, who left Google last year, says the incentives around AI research are all wrong.

Excerpt:

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCHERS are facing a problem of accountability: How do you try to ensure decisions are responsible when the decision maker is not a responsible person, but rather an algorithm? Right now, only a handful of people and organizations have the power—and resources—to automate decision-making.
…
Since leaving Google, Gebru has been developing an independent research institute to show a new model for responsible and ethical AI research. The institute aims to answer similar questions as her Ethical AI team, without fraught incentives of private, federal, or academic research—and without ties to corporations or the Department of Defense.

“Our goal is not to make Google more money; it’s not to help the Defense Department figure out how to kill more people more efficiently,” she said.

From DSC:
What does our society need to do to respond to this exponential pace of technological change? And where is the legal realm here?

Speaking of the pace of change…the following quote from The Future Direction And Vision For AI (from marktechpost.com by Imtiaz Adam) speaks to massive changes in this decade as well:

The next generation will feature 5G alongside AI and will lead to a new generation of Tech superstars in addition to some of the existing ones.

In future the variety, volume and velocity of data is likely to substantially increase as we move to the era of 5G and devices at the Edge of the network. The author argues that our experience of development with AI and the arrival of 3G followed by 4G networks will be dramatically overshadowed with the arrival of AI meets 5G and the IoT leading to the rise of the AIoT where the Edge of the network will become key for product and service innovation and business growth.

Also related/see:

AI’s Smarts Now Come With a Big Price Tag — from wired.com by Will Knight
As language models get more complex, they also get more expensive to create and run. Some companies are locked out.

Americans Need a Bill of Rights for an AI-Powered World — from wired.com by Eric Lander & Alondra Nelson
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is developing principles to guard against powerful technologies—with input from the public.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Soon after ratifying our Constitution, Americans adopted a Bill of Rights to guard against the powerful government we had just created—enumerating guarantees such as freedom of expression and assembly, rights to due process and fair trials, and protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Throughout our history we have had to reinterpret, reaffirm, and periodically expand these rights. In the 21st century, we need a “bill of rights” to guard against the powerful technologies we have created.

Our country should clarify the rights and freedoms we expect data-driven technologies to respect. What exactly those are will require discussion, but here are some possibilities: your right to know when and how AI is influencing a decision that affects your civil rights and civil liberties; your freedom from being subjected to AI that hasn’t been carefully audited to ensure that it’s accurate, unbiased, and has been trained on sufficiently representative data sets; your freedom from pervasive or discriminatory surveillance and monitoring in your home, community, and workplace; and your right to meaningful recourse if the use of an algorithm harms you.

In the coming months, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (which we lead) will be developing such a bill of rights, working with partners and experts across the federal government, in academia, civil society, the private sector, and communities all over the country.

Technology can only work for everyone if everyone is included, so we want to hear from and engage with everyone. You can email us directly at ai-equity@ostp.eop.gov.

From DSC:
The articles below made me wonder…what will lawyers, judges, and legislators need to know about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies? (#EmergingTechnologies)

Bitcoin Is Boosting Cryptocurrency Firms’ Market Cap, Leaving Apple In the Dust — from interestingengineering.com by Ameya Paleja
Money is changing.
Bitcoin: Who owns it, who mines it, who’s breaking the law — from mitsloan.mit.edu by Betsy Vereckey

What if you were the lawyer that these folks came to for help? [Christian]

On 10/11/2021, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, ideas, law schools, leadership, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, pace of change, policy, society, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
What if you were working in the law office that these folks came into for help, representation, and counsel…what would you do?

Ex-Uber driver takes legal action over ‘racist’ face-recognition software — from theguardian.com by Robert Booth
UK driver alleges his account was illegally deactivated when Uber software decided he was not who he said he was

Or if someone “stole” your voice for a bit:

AI-generated deepfake voices can fool both humans and smart assistants — from newscientist.com by Chris Stokel-Walker

You can see the critical role that the American Bar Association plays in helping our nation deal with these kinds of things. They are the pace-setters on the [legal] track.

Three resources for those interested in home-schooling

On 09/28/2021, in education, education reform, face-to-face, faith, homeschooling/homeschoolers, K-12 related, neurodivergent/special needs, policy, student-related, teachers, technologies for your home, United States, user experience (UX), youth, by Daniel Christian

Holt (1923 – 85) homeschooling and unschooling — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Excerpt:

John Holt graduated from Yale in 1943 but signed up to be a submariner in WW2. On discharge, he eventually became a teacher, in various schools. This led to a disillusionment with the US education system so deep that he became an advocate for homeschooling and unschooling. This emerged from his belief that education was so deeply embedded, structurally and culturally, that it was unreformable. Neither did he believe that alternative schools were the answer. He retains his reputation as the founding father of homeschooling.

National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI)

Excerpt:

NHERI is the National Home Education Research Institute. NHERI conducts and collects research about homeschooling (home-based education, home schooling), and publishes the research journal called the Home School Researcher. The institute has hundreds of research works documented and catalogued on home schooling, many of which were done by NHERI. Simply put, NHERI specializes in homeschool research, facts, statistics, scholarly articles, and information.

Homeschooling – home education or home-based education – has grown from nearly extinct in the United States in the 1970s to just over 2 million school-age students. NHERI focuses on homeschooling research, homeschool facts, homeschool fast facts, and in-depth scholarly articles.

The Home School Legal Defense Association

DC: What are the ramifications for law schools and legal depts if these legal tech-related predictions come true?

On 09/24/2021, in Access to Justice (A2J), change, Daniel S. Christian, future, game-changing environment, ideas, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, policy, by Daniel Christian

Legal Tech’s Predictions for Legal Technology Innovation in 2022 — from legalreader.com by Smith Johnes

Excerpts:

By 2024, non-lawyer workers will replace 20% of generalist lawyers in legal departments.
Legal departments will have automated half of legal work connected to big corporate transactions by 2024.
Legal departments will triple their investment in legal technology by 2025.

From DSC:
What are the ramifications for law schools and legal departments if these legal tech-related predictions come true?

Justice, equity, & fairness: Exploring the tense relationship between AI & the law with Joilson Melo [Brown]

On 09/20/2021, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), law schools, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, policy, society, the downsides of how people use tech, by Daniel Christian

Justice, Equity, And Fairness: Exploring The Tense Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence And The Law With Joilson Melo — from forbes.com by Annie Brown

Excerpt:

The law and legal practitioners stand to gain a lot from a proper adoption of AI into the legal system. Legal research is one area that AI has already begun to help out with. AI can streamline the thousands of results an internet or directory search would otherwise provide, offering a smaller digestible handful of relevant authorities for legal research. This is already proving helpful and with more targeted machine learning it would only get better.

The possible benefits go on; automated drafts of documents and contracts, document review, and contract analysis are some of those considered imminent.

Many have even considered the possibilities of AI in helping with more administrative functions like the appointment of officers and staff, administration of staff, and making the citizens aware of their legal rights.

A future without AI seems bleak and laborious for most industries including the legal and while we must march on, we must be cautious about our strategies for adoption. This point is better put in the words of Joilson Melo; “The possibilities are endless, but the burden of care is very heavy[…]we must act and evolve with [caution].”

Reflections on “Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work” [McKinsey & Company]

On 09/17/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, communities of practice, competency-based learning/education, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education reform, entrepreneurship, future, global / globalization, heutagogy, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, online learning, platforms, policy, political science, reinvent, research, skills, society, staying relevant, streams of content, surviving, training / L&D, trends, TVs, United States, using teams, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work — from McKinsey & Company; with thanks to Ryan Craig for this resource

Excerpts:

Our findings help define the particular skills citizens are likely to require in the future world of work and suggest how proficiency in them can influence work-related outcomes, namely employment, income, and job satisfaction. This, in turn, suggests three actions governments may wish to take.

Reform education systems
Reform adult-training systems
Ensure affordability of lifelong education

Establish an AI aggregator of training programs to attract adult learners and encourage lifelong learning. AI algorithms could guide users on whether they need to upskill or reskill for a new profession and shortlist relevant training programs.

From DSC:
No one will have all 56 skills that McKinsey recommends here. So (HR) managers, please don’t load up your job postings with every single skill listed here. The search for purple unicorns can get tiring, old, and discouraging for those who are looking for work.

That said, much of what McKinsey’s research/data shows — and what their recommendations are — resonates with me. And that’s why I keep adding to the developments out at:

A powerful, global, next-generation learning platform — meant to help people reinvent themselves quickly, safely, cost-effectively, conveniently, & consistently!!!

The Fight to Define When AI Is ‘High Risk’ [Johnson]

On 09/03/2021, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Europe, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, platforms, policy, society, sociology, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, by Daniel Christian

The Fight to Define When AI Is ‘High Risk’ — from wired.com by Khari Johnson
Everyone from tech companies to churches wants a say in how the EU regulates AI that could harm people.

Excerpt:

The AI Act is one of the first major policy initiatives worldwide focused on protecting people from harmful AI. If enacted, it will classify AI systems according to risk, more strictly regulate AI that’s deemed high risk to humans, and ban some forms of AI entirely, including real-time facial recognition in some instances. In the meantime, corporations and interest groups are publicly lobbying lawmakers to amend the proposal according to their interests.

What are the unintended consequences of #emergingtechnologies? [Christian]

On 08/18/2021, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Daniel S. Christian, law schools, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, pace of change, policy, society, the downsides of how people use tech, by Daniel Christian

DC: At times, I wonder…what are the unintended consequences of #emergingtechnologies? Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. That thought came to my mind when I saw this article: https://t.co/vngu9hs4Mb

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) August 18, 2021

From DSC:
Yet another example of the need for the legislative and legal realms to try and catch up here.

The legal realm needs to try and catch up with the exponential pace of technological change

Learning Ecosystems

Ohio State U. Unveils a Plan for All Students to Graduate Debt-Free [Kelderman]

Legal education as a key stakeholder in legal services reform (276) [Rodriguez]

Excerpt from “Use of digital technologies in judicial reform and access to justice cooperation — from HiiL

What will lawyers, judges, & legislators need to know about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies? [Christian]

DC: What are the ramifications for law schools and legal depts if these legal tech-related predictions come true?

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