Computer Law Commons^™

Computationally Assessing Suspicion, Wesley M. Oliver, Morgan A. Gray, Jaromir Savelka, Kevin D. Ashley

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Law enforcement officers performing drug interdiction on interstate highways have to decide nearly every day whether there is reasonable suspicion to detain motorists until a trained dog can sniff for the presence of drugs. The officers’ assessments are often wrong, however, and lead to unnecessary detentions of innocent persons and the suppression of drugs found on guilty ones. We propose a computational method of evaluating suspicion in these encounters and offer experimental results from early efforts demonstrating its feasibility. With the assistance of large language and predictive machine learning models, it appears that judges, advocates, and even police officers could …

Coded Social Control: China’S Normalization Of Biometric Surveillance In The Post Covid-19 Era, Michelle Miao

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

This article investigates the longevity of health QR codes, a digital instrument of pandemic surveillance, in post-COVID China. From 2020 to 2022, China widely used this tri-color tool to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. A commonly held assumption is that health QR codes have become obsolete in post-pandemic China. This study challenges such an assumption. It reveals their persistence and integration - through mobile apps and online platforms - beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency. A prolonged, expanded and normalized use of tools which were originally intended for contact tracing and pandemic surveillance raises critical legal and ethical concerns. Moreover, their …

An Exacerbated Power Imbalance: The Danger In Allowing Ai To Render Arbitral Awards In Employment Arbitration, Elizabeth G. Stein

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Code And Prejudice: Regulating Discriminatory Algorithms, Bernadette M. Coyle

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In an era dominated by efficiency-driven technology, algorithms have seamlessly integrated into every facet of daily life, wielding significant influence over decisions that impact individuals and society at large. Algorithms are deliberately portrayed as impartial and automated in order to maintain their legitimacy. However, this illusion crumbles under scrutiny, revealing the inherent biases and discriminatory tendencies embedded in ostensibly unbiased algorithms. This Note delves into the pervasive issues of discriminatory algorithms, focusing on three key areas of life opportunities: housing, employment, and voting rights. This Note systematically addresses the multifaceted issues arising from discriminatory algorithms, showcasing real-world instances of algorithmic …

Regulation Priorities For Artificial Intelligence Foundation Models, Matthew R. Gaske

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Article responds to the call in technology law literature for high-level frameworks to guide regulation of the development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Accordingly, it adapts a generalized form of the fintech Innovation Trilemma framework to argue that a regulatory scheme can prioritize only two of three aims when considering AI oversight: (1) promoting innovation, (2) mitigating systemic risk, and (3) providing clear regulatory requirements. Specifically, this Article expressly connects legal scholarship to research in other fields focusing on foundation model AI systems and explores this kind of system’s implications for regulation priorities from the geopolitical and …

Introduction To The Future Of Remote Work, Nicola Countouris, Valerio De Stefano, Agnieszka Piasna, Silvia Rainone

Articles & Book Chapters

Debates on the future of work have taken a more fundamental turn in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Early in 2020, when large sections of the workforce were prevented from coming to their usual places of work, remote work became the only way for many to continue to perform their professions. What had been a piecemeal, at times truly sluggish, evolution towards a multilocation approach to work suddenly turned into an abrupt, radical and universal shift. It quickly became clear that the consequences of this shift were far more significant and far-reaching than simply changing the workplace’s address. They …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind? Remote Work And Contractual Distancing, Nicola Countouris, Valerio De Stefano

Articles & Book Chapters

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work has acquired quasi-Marmite status. It has become difficult, if not impossible, to approach the issue in a measured and dispassionate way, which is one of the reasons books such as the present one are being published. Remote work is often seen as anathema by some who associate it with laziness, low productivity and the degradation of the social fabric of firms and of their creative and collaborative potential. The notorious views of CEOs such as Tesla and Twitter’s Elon Musk or JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon come to mind, indicative – in the view of …

The Perks Of Being Human, Max Stul Oppenheimer

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The power of artificial intelligence has recently entered the public consciousness, prompting debates over numerous legal issues raised by use of the tool. Among the questions that need to be resolved is whether to grant intellectual property rights to copyrightable works or patentable inventions created by a machine, where there is no human intervention sufficient to grant those rights to the human. Both the U. S. Copyright Office and the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office have taken the position that in cases where there is no human author or inventor, there is no right to copyright or patent protection. …

A Compulsory Solution To The Machine Problem: Recognizing Artificial Intelligence As Inventors In Patent Law, Cole G. Merritt

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already disrupting and will likely continue to disrupt many industries. Despite the role AI already plays, AI systems are becoming increasingly powerful. Ultimately, these systems may become a powerful tool that can lead to the discovery of important inventions or significantly reduce the time required to discover these inventions. Even now, AI systems are independently inventing. However, the resulting AI-generated inventions are unable to receive patent protection under current US patent law. This unpatentability may lead to inefficient results and ineffectively serves the goals of patent law.

To embrace the development and power of AI, Congress …

Regulating Uncertain States: A Risk-Based Policy Agenda For Quantum Technologies, Tina Dekker, Florian Martin-Bariteau

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Many countries are taking a national approach to developing quantum strategies with a strong focus on innovation. However, societal, ethical, legal, and policy considerations should not be an afterthought that is pushed aside by the drive for innovation. A responsible, global approach to quantum technologies that considers the legal, ethical, and societal dimensions of quantum technologies is necessary to avoid exacerbating existing global inequalities. Quantum technologies are expected to disrupt other transformative technologies whose legal landscape is still under development (e.g., artificial intelligence [‘‘AI”], blockchain, etc.). The shortcomings of global policies regarding AI and the digital context teach lessons that …

Human-Centered Design To Address Biases In Artificial Intelligence, Ellen W. Clayton, You Chen, Laurie L. Novak, Shilo Anders, Bradley Malin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce health care disparities and inequities is recognized, but it can also exacerbate these issues if not implemented in an equitable manner. This perspective identifies potential biases in each stage of the AI life cycle, including data collection, annotation, machine learning model development, evaluation, deployment, operationalization, monitoring, and feedback integration. To mitigate these biases, we suggest involving a diverse group of stakeholders, using human-centered AI principles. Human-centered AI can help ensure that AI systems are designed and used in a way that benefits patients and society, which can reduce health disparities and inequities. …

Recognizing Operators’ Duties To Properly Select And Supervise Ai Agents – A (Better?) Tool For Algorithmic Accountability, Richard Zuroff

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In November of 2020, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada proposed creating GDPR-inspired rights for decision subjects and allowing financial penalties for violations of those rights. Shortly afterward, the proposal to create a right to an explanation for algorithmic decisions was incorporated into Bill C-11, the Digital Charter Implementation Act. This commentary proposes that creating duties for operators to properly select and supervise artificial agents would be a complementary, and potentially more effective, accountability mechanism than creating a right to an explanation. These duties would be a natural extension of employers’ duties to properly select and retain human employees. Allowing victims …

Copyrighting Brain Computer Interface: Where Neuroengineering Meets Intellectual Property Law, Favio Ramirez Caminatti

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Using Artificial Intelligence In The Law Review Submissions Process, Brenda M. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

The use of artificial intelligence to help editors examine law review submissions may provide a way to improve an overburdened system. This Article is the first to explore the promise and pitfalls of using artificial intelligence in the law review submissions process. Technology-assisted review of submissions offers many possible benefits. It can simplify preemption checks, prevent plagiarism, detect failure to comply with formatting requirements, and identify missing citations. These efficiencies may allow editors to address serious flaws in the current selection process, including the use of heuristics that may result in discriminatory outcomes and dependence on lower-ranked journals to conduct …

Algorithmic Governance From The Bottom Up, Hannah Bloch-Wehba

Faculty Scholarship

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are both a blessing and a curse for governance. In theory, algorithmic governance makes government more efficient, more accurate, and more fair. But the emergence of automation in governance also rests on public-private collaborations that expand both public and private power, aggravate transparency and accountability gaps, and create significant obstacles for those seeking algorithmic justice. In response, a nascent body of law proposes technocratic policy changes to foster algorithmic accountability, ethics, and transparency.

This Article examines an alternative vision of algorithmic governance, one advanced primarily by social and labor movements instead of technocrats and firms. …

Content Moderation As Surveillance, Hannah Bloch-Wehba

Faculty Scholarship

Technology platforms are the new governments, and content moderation is the new law, or so goes a common refrain. As platforms increasingly turn toward new, automated mechanisms of enforcing their rules, the apparent power of the private sector seems only to grow. Yet beneath the surface lies a web of complex relationships between public and private authorities that call into question whether platforms truly possess such unilateral power. Law enforcement and police are exerting influence over platform content rules, giving governments a louder voice in supposedly “private” decisions. At the same time, law enforcement avails itself of the affordances of …

Prospects For Legal Analytics: Some Approaches To Extracting More Meaning From Legal Texts, Kevin D. Ashley

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ai Derivatives: The Application To The Derivative Work Right To Literary And Artistic Productions Of Ai Machines, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article predicts that there will be attempts to use courts to try to broaden the derivative work right in litigation either to prevent the use of, or claim protection for, literary and artistic productions made by Artificial Intelligence (AI) machines. This Article considers the normative valence of, and the (significant) doctrinal pitfalls associated with, such attempts. It also considers a possible legislative alternative, namely attempts to introduce a new sui generis right in AI productions. Finally, this Article explains how, whether such attempts succeed or not, the debate on rights (if any) in productions made by AI machines is …

Distributed Governance Of Medical Ai, W. Nicholson Price Ii

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to democratize expertise in medicine, bring expertise previously limited to specialists to a variety of health-care settings. But AI can easily falter, and making sure that AI works well across that variety of settings is a challenging task. Centralized governance, such as review by the Food and Drug Administration, can only do so much, since system performance will depend on the particular health-care setting and how the AI system is integrated into setting-specific clinical workflows. This Essay presents the need for distributed governance, where some oversight tasks are undertaken in localized settings. It points …

A Compulsory Solution To The Machine Problem, Cole G. Merritt

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already disrupting and will likely continue to disrupt many industries. Despite the role AI already plays, AI systems are becoming increasingly powerful. Ultimately, these systems may become a powerful tool that can lead to the discovery of important inventions or significantly reduce the time required to discover these inventions. Even now, AI systems are independently inventing. However, the resulting AI-generated inventions are unable to receive patent protection under current US patent law. This unpatentability may lead to inefficient results and ineffectively serves the goals of patent law.

To embrace the development and power of AI, Congress …

Artificial Intelligence In Canadian Healthcare: Will The Law Protect Us From Algorithmic Bias Resulting In Discrimination?, Bradley Henderson, Colleen M. Flood, Teresa Scassa

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In this article, we canvas why AI may perpetuate or exacerbate extant discrimination through a review of the training, development, and implementation of healthcare-related AI applications and set out policy options to militate against such discrimination. The article is divided into eight short parts including this introduction. Part II focuses on explaining AI, some of its basic functions and processes, and its relevance to healthcare. In Part III, we define and explain the difference and relationship between algorithmic bias and data bias, both of which can result in discrimination in healthcare settings, and provide some prominent examples of healthcare-related AI …

Modeling Through, Ryan Calo

Articles

Theorists of justice have long imagined a decision-maker capable of acting wisely in every circumstance. Policymakers seldom live up to this ideal. They face well-understood limits, including an inability to anticipate the societal impacts of state intervention along a range of dimensions and values. Policymakers cannot see around corners or address societal problems at their roots. When it comes to regulation and policy-setting, policymakers are often forced, in the memorable words of political economist Charles Lindblom, to “muddle through” as best they can.

Powerful new affordances, from supercomputing to artificial intelligence, have arisen in the decades since Lindblom’s 1959 article …

The Ratio Method: Addressing Complex Tort Liability In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Harrison C. Margolin, Grant H. Frazier

St. Mary's Law Journal

Emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution show fundamental promise for improving productivity and quality of life, though their misuse may also cause significant social disruption. For example, while artificial intelligence will be used to accelerate society’s processes, it may also displace millions of workers and arm cybercriminals with increasingly powerful hacking capabilities. Similarly, human gene editing shows promise for curing numerous diseases, but also raises significant concerns about adverse health consequences related to the corruption of human and pathogenic genomes.

In most instances, only specialists understand the growing intricacies of these novel technologies. As the complexity and speed of …

Natural Language Processing For Lawyers And Judges, Frank Fagan

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Law as Data: Computation, Text, & the Future of Legal Analysis. Edited by Michael A. Livermore and Daniel N. Rockmore.

Brain-Computer-Interfacing & Respondeat Superior: Algorithmic Decisions, Manipulation, And Accountability In Armed Conflict, Salahudin Ali

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

This article examines the impact that brain-computer-interfacing platforms will have on the international law of armed conflict’s respondeat superior legal regime. Major Ali argues that the connection between the human brain and this nascent technology’s underlying technology of artificial intelligence and machine learning will serve as a disruptor to the traditional mental prerequisites required to impart culpability and liability on commanders for actions of their troops. Anticipating that BCI will become increasingly ubiquitous, Major Ali’s article offers frameworks for solution to BCI’s disruptive potential to the internal law of armed conflict.

Administrative Law In The Automated State, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

In the future, administrative agencies will rely increasingly on digital automation powered by machine learning algorithms. Can U.S. administrative law accommodate such a future? Not only might a highly automated state readily meet longstanding administrative law principles, but the responsible use of machine learning algorithms might perform even better than the status quo in terms of fulfilling administrative law’s core values of expert decision-making and democratic accountability. Algorithmic governance clearly promises more accurate, data-driven decisions. Moreover, due to their mathematical properties, algorithms might well prove to be more faithful agents of democratic institutions. Yet even if an automated state were …

Book Review, Aamir S. Abdullah

Publications

No abstract provided.

Beyond Algorithms: Toward A Normative Theory Of Automated Regulation, Felix Mormann

Faculty Scholarship

The proliferation of artificial intelligence in our daily lives has spawned a burgeoning literature on the dawn of dehumanized, algorithmic governance. Remarkably, the scholarly discourse overwhelmingly fails to acknowledge that automated, non-human governance has long been a reality. For more than a century, policymakers have relied on regulations that automatically adjust to changing circumstances, without the need for human intervention. This article surveys the track record of self-adjusting governance mechanisms to propose a normative theory of automated regulation.

Effective policymaking frequently requires anticipation of future developments, from technology innovation to geopolitical change. Self-adjusting regulation offers an insurance policy against the …

The Law Of Ai, Margot Kaminski

Publications

No abstract provided.

Human-Machine Teaming And Its Legal And Ethical Implications, Jim Q. Chen, Thomas Wingfield

Military Cyber Affairs

Humans rely on machines in accomplishing missions while machines need humans to make them more intelligent and more powerful. Neither side can go without the other, especially in complex environments when autonomous mode is initiated. Things are becoming more complicated when law and ethical principles should be applied in these complex environments. One of the solutions is human-machine teaming, as it takes advantage of both the best humans can offer and the best that machines can provide. This article intends to explore ways of implementing law and ethical principles in artificial intelligence (AI) systems using human-machine teaming. It examines the …