Addressing legal issues with the latest technological developments and social media trends.
Posted

by and

GettyImages-1357483109-300x200Although that new smart refrigerator might seem like a fun gadget and great way to sync up grocery lists, smart appliances have the potential to become vectors in malicious power grid attacks. Or what about the increasingly popular addition of a solar plus storage solution or an EV charging station in individual homes? These home energy hubs, connected to the power grid and often linked with a host of devices via a mobile phone, pose another layer of risk that is only beginning to be explored. As the World Economic Forum draws attention to a worldwide “cyber pandemic,” electrical grid breaches remain an ongoing point of alarm. Power grids are more exposed than ever to cyberattacks, thanks in part to the vast expansion of (often poorly secured) consumer internet-connected devices, large remote-work networks and new smart grid technologies that connect power meters remotely to aging grid infrastructure. As we look to the future, the rapidly evolving technologies that are necessary to enable distributed energy resources and virtual power plants, such as residential energy storage, home energy hubs and EV bidirectional charging (V2H, V2G or V2X), have the potential to dramatically redefine those risks—for the better or the worse.

Continue Reading →

Posted

by and

On May 18, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the purpose and character of the use of “Orange Prince” by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (AWF) weighed against a finding of fair use of Lynn Goldsmith’s photograph of the artist known as Prince.

The decision’s implications go far beyond Warhol, Goldsmith and Prince, with the potential to impact stakeholders across industries, including fine art, film, software, music, publishing, fashion, and all other industries affected by copyright.

Continue Reading →

Posted

by , and

GenAI-workplace-1488370396-scaled-e1683820381673-300x281The use of generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, are becoming increasingly popular in the workplace. Generative AI tools include artificial intelligence chatbots powered by “large language models” (LLMs) that learn from (and share) a vast amount of accumulated text and interactions (usually snapshots of the entire internet). These tools are capable of interacting with users in a conversational and iterative way with a human-like personality, to perform a wide range of tasks, such as generating text, analyzing and solving problems, language translation, summarizing complex content or even generating code for software applications. For example, in a matter of seconds they can provide a draft marketing campaign, generate corresponding website code, or write customer-facing emails.

Continue Reading →

Posted

by

On Tuesday, May 2, 2023, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) held the second of four sessions on the copyright implications of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), titled “Artificial Intelligence and Copyright – Visual Arts.”

The session focused on GAI issues relevant to visual works, and featured two panels with various stakeholders that brought a range of perspectives to the discussion. These panelists included representatives from GAI platform companies, graphic design software companies, think tanks, policy organizations, and law firms, as well as artists concerned by the impact of GAI.

Continue Reading →

Posted

by

counterfactuals-1403599183-300x200Counterfactuals, the buzzy term being touted in the latest AI news, assert some impressive promises for the tech world. But the general idea is nothing new. Counterfactual thinking describes the human drive to conjure up alternative outcomes based on different choices that might be made along the way—essentially it’s a way of looking at cause and effect. Counterfactual philosophy dates back to Aristotle, and along the way it’s been debated by historians and even written about by Winston Churchill in his 1931 essay, “If Lee Had NOT Won the Battle of Gettysburg.” In more recent years, scientists have found that it’s possible to translate such counterfactual theories into complex math equations and plug them into AI models. These programs aim to use causal reasoning to pore over mountains of data and form predictions (and explain their logic) on things like drug performance, disease assessment, financial simulations and more.

Continue Reading →

Posted

by

GettyImages-1204240415-300x216New and emerging technologies have always carried a host of potential risks to accompany their oft-blinding potential. Just as dependably, those risks have often been ignored, glossed over or just missed as public enthusiasm waxes and companies race to bring a product to market first and most effectively. Automobiles promised to get people (and products) from one place to another at life-changing speeds, but also posed a danger to life and limb while imposing a new burden on existing infrastructure. Even as technology leaps have transitioned from appliances and aircraft to computers, connectivity and large language models (LLMs), new and untested technologies continue to outpace the government and the public’s ability to moderate them. But while one can debate what constitutes an acceptable gap between the practical and ideal when it comes to regulating, mandating and evaluating the pros and cons of new technology, societies tend to generate their own methods of informing the public and attempting to rein in the more harmful aspects of the latest thing.

Continue Reading →

Posted

by

As the emergence of generative AI brings new market opportunities to China, leading China-based tech giants have released or plan to release their own self-developed generative AI services. On April 11, 2023, China’s main cybersecurity and data privacy regulator, Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued its Administrative Measures on Generative Artificial Intelligence Service draft for public comments. (The public comment period will end on May 10, 2023.)

In “China Issues Proposed Regulations on Generative AI,” colleagues Jenny (Jia) Sheng, Chunbin Xu and Wenjun Cai break down the proposed rules, which apply to all generative AI services open to users in mainland China and are focused on cybersecurity and data privacy risks.

Posted

by

GettyImages-1425611812-300x200On April 6, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed Judge Gilstrap’s ruling in SAS Institute, Inc. v. World Programming Limited, which effectively denied copyright protection to SAS Institute’s data analysis software. The decision is likely to have lasting implications for developers that seek to protect software through copyright law.

Continue Reading →

Posted

by and

Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving, and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are one of the more exciting examples. Their generative capabilities have implications for our patent system, some of which are underappreciated and nonintuitive.

Under U.S. patent law, an inventor may not obtain a patent if the claimed invention would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill, in view of the prior art. (See 35 U.S.C. § 103.)

Continue Reading →

Posted

by

NewsofNoteMain-300x250

In today’s News of Note, generative AI continues to draw criticism and even a ban, but that doesn’t stop developers from pushing forward with everything from music prediction and mind-reading—to talking with crabs. Plus, we look at quantum computing in health care, a new report on the impact of deep-sea rare earths mining, and so much more.

Continue Reading →