Commentary: Artificial intelligence is changing how we practice law

Our future is more present than we may realize and we must be ready to adapt.


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  • | 1:00 a.m. July 5, 2024
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Iana Benjamin
Iana Benjamin
  • The Bar Bulletin
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I read a few weeks ago that actress Scarlett Johansson’s legal team sent letters to Open AI asking the company to detail the process by which it developed a voice tech company dubbed “Sky.”

Concerning for Johansson was that the voice sounded eerily similar to her voice in the Spike Jonze romantic sci-fi film “Her.” Johansson purported that she found the similarity between her voice and the “Sky” voice alarming.

An unauthorized use of someone’s likeness is inappropriate, and OpenAI could be held liable for any such wrongdoing.   

I also read about Elon Musk’s brain/computer interface company, Neuralink.

It had its first brain implant recipient earlier this year and the recipient detailed his account about living with the implant in his brain.

The recipient can control a computer or phone simply by thinking.  

The last time I wrote in the Bar Bulletin it was about Generation Alpha, the demographic cohort succeeding Generation Z.

This generation’s first wave will reach adulthood by the 2030s and according to Mark McCrindle, a social researcher from Australia, “they will live longer and have smaller families and will be the most formally educated generation ever, the most technology-supplied generation ever and globally the wealthiest generation ever.”

What an impact this generation, like generations before them, will have on our world. 

Artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, the most technology-supplied generation ever – what do they all have in common? The commonality is that all three will impact how we practice law. 

Generative artificial intelligence (AI like ChatGPT), along with many other similar AI tools are being deployed in many law practice areas, especially in transactional practice areas that require research and drafting.

AI is not a fad, nor apocalyptic. It is a tool, albeit in its infancy stage, that we need to understand and eventually master.

It is not to be ignored. The European Union is well on its way to putting laws in place, with their EU AI Act, the first-ever legal framework of its kind to regulate AI.

On the topic of the brain-computer interfaces, Neuralink isn’t the only company developing this technology. Brain-computer interface devices have been embedded in the brains of scores of candidates.

Among the goals of these devices is to aid in communication for people who can’t easily move or speak, either by helping them navigate a computer cursor or by translating their brain activity into speech or text.

Brain-computer interface devices are in their infancy stage, like AI, since most just received approvals for their clinical trials to be allowed to proceed with brain implants.

The potential of this technology has life-altering implications for many people. 

Generation Alpha will be in the thick of these developments and many of this generation will be clients of ours.

As we dive deeper into the practice of law and observe the changing landscape of technology, we may continue to develop keen awareness to ensure that we have some semblance about how to navigate because these technology tools are becoming increasingly ubiquitous.  

Iana Benjamin is a senior litigation attorney at Cordell Law and the editor-in-chief of the JBA Bar Bulletin. 

 

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