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Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI: the big questions

With last year’s public release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, generative AI went from niche to nova. Generative AI has reached an astonishing level of capability, from producing near-human text responses and photorealistic images of non-existent events, to suggesting software code and creating websites. In turn, political and regulatory focus has sharpened regarding how to ensure responsible AI use and development. Balancing risk and reward in the deployment of AI has entered uncharted territory as the legal landscape for AI evolves and this versatile technology disrupts the way we work and create across sectors.
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Intellectual Property

What's wrong with this picture? AI-created images and content: copyright ownership and infringement

Countless social media posts, images and articles have been generated using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion and Dall-E. But who – if anyone – owns the copyright in the outputs, and do the tools themselves infringe copyright? Our IP & Tech//Digital teams take a deep dive into the issues and the recent infringement claims.
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Artificial intelligence

All Eyes on AI: More guidance for U.S. employers on the use and risks of AI in hiring decisions

On May 24, 2023, the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission issued a paper, "Select Issues: Assessing Adverse Impact in Software, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence Used in Employment Selection Procedures Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Action of 1964," with the aim of continuing to provide further guidance to employers on the uses and potential misuses of algorithmic decision-making tools.
Artificial intelligence

Generative AI: here to harm or help?

The development and adoption of AI systems has seen a number of significant milestones in recent years, the latest one being in the field of Generative AI.The speed at which Generative AI has gained traction in both businesses and our daily lives has re-ignited the debate around the potential for harm associated with highly automated systems deployed at scale.
Artificial intelligence

The EU AI Act: concerns and criticism

The AI Act is currently going through a detailed legislative process, during which it is likely to be amended. We have a look at some of the key areas of criticism and discuss what's next.

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Intellectual Property

AI-Generated Music and Copyright

When a track by artist "Ghostwriter" was uploaded and then promptly removed from streaming services in April, it was the latest example of one of 2023's most astonishing trends. The track 'heart on my sleeve' sounded like it was sung by two of the world's biggest stars, Drake and The Weeknd. In fact, it was actually someone who had used an AI tool to make his voice sound like theirs.

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Artificial intelligence

China moves to further regulate artificial intelligence – what businesses should know

On 11 April 2023, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) published a consultation draft (the Administrative Measures for Generative Artificial Intelligence Services (the GenAI Measures)) to regulate the rapidly developing field of generative artificial intelligence (AI). This article highlights some key questions for businesses that are involved in the use or development of AI within or outside China.

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Artificial intelligence

The intellectual property and data protection implications of training generative AI

The models underlying popular generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bard and DALL-E are being trained on vast amounts of data sourced from the internet. The use of such data in the training of GPT and similar models therefore gives rise to intellectual property and data protection risks on a significantly augmented scale.

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Artificial intelligence

Financial services can light the way for context-specific AI regulation

Given the rapid uptake in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) including machine learning (ML) technologies in the financial services sector, the sector and its regulators have enjoyed a head start in exploring and seeking to navigate the issues that arise. The sector is therefore well-positioned to demonstrate how a pro-innovation, context-specific and risk-based approach to regulating AI can succeed.

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Insurtech Update: Aye-aye, Eye and AI

In light of the UK government's pro-innovation policy, the PRA, FCA and Bank of England have been examining their roles as regulators in supporting the adoption of AI and machine learning in financial services. The regulators are at a crucial point in developing their respective approaches, currently driven by the (now closed) joint Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning discussion pape

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Artificial intelligence

ICYMI: The U.S. Government Launches AI Accountability Consultation

On April 11, President Biden's administration quietly dropped a consultation that might lead to a slow revolution in the U.S.'s approach to AI regulation. The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) published a request for comment (RFC) on how to achieve "trustworthy AI." The comments window is open until June 12, after which the NTIA will draft a report on AI policy development

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Artificial intelligence

Trouble in the cockpit? Popular AI tool faces class action lawsuit

A class action against GitHub Copilot has been filed alleging violations of the rights, including copyright, of authors that have created or contributed to codebases stored as public repositories on GitHub.

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Data

Clearview AI appeals the ICO's monetary penalty notice (over £7.5 million fine) and enforcement notice (order to delete certain data)

The First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) (FTT) heard Clearview's appeal in November 2022. The appeal outcome is expected imminently.

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Artificial intelligence

Developers can now let an AI assistant write code for them - but what are the IP implications?

A year after its announcement, GitHub Copilot was launched last month to the public at large. The tool promises to "fundamentally change the nature of software development" by providing AI-based coding suggestions, saving developers time and effort. What are the intellectual property implications for those who build or buy software created using Copilot? .

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Artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence M&A and Fundraisings in 2023

AI has quickly become one of the biggest stories for Technology investors so far this year, snowballing steadily since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT at the end of 2022. The arrival of 'generative AI' that can produce new content (text-based responses to queries, images, audio, video and even code) marks a new and exciting phase in the development of mainstream AI applications. The starting gun has been fired for a race to capture the market.

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Real estate

Digital Twins: Legal Considerations

Demand for precise virtual modelling of real-world assets is gaining momentum, especially in the construction industry. What legal risks and challenges should companies expect to face? A digital twin is an exact virtual model of a real-world asset which enables interaction with that asset, be it a physical object (such as a building or jet engine), a system (such as a piece of computer networking architecture) or a process.

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Artificial intelligence

Managing AI in an evolving legal landscape webinar

In this webinar our experts: examined recent legal developments in a number of jurisdictions; considered key issues affecting the successful deployment and management of AI and machine learning; looked ahead to expected changes to relevant regulatory regimes; and discussed what businesses can do to prepare.

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Latest podcast

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Artificial Intelligence, a question of liability?

What liability standards will the EU Commission apply to artificial intelligence in the future? And what will AI manufacturers and companies using artificial intelligence have to deal with in terms of liability law? Counsel Jan Conrady and senior associate Eva Lange discuss these topics and more in the third episode of the Clifford Chance podcast series "Talking Tech - AI" with journalist Pia Lorenz. There is one thing the two lawyers agree on: Without regulated liability, there will be no broad acceptance for the use of complex AI systems. [In German]

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Artificial intelligence

Employing AI: Artificial Intelligence in the US recruitment and hiring process

Is federal regulation on the horizon ?

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Rollout of autonomous vehicles: UK government plans for a legislative framework

The UK government has announced plans to develop a new legislative framework to allow for the wider rollout of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on UK roads by 2025. We look at the legal proposals in more detail and the related ethical considerations raised by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) in its report on Responsible Innovation in Self-Driving Vehicles.

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Intellectual Property

EPO rules only humans can be inventors – another blow to the DABUS patents

This latest case shows at least when it comes to patent inventorship, as things stand, humans are still the "measure of all things".

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Artificial intelligence

‘AI system’ = any software?

The new EU regulation on artificial intelligence

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Artificial intelligence

Inclusive Artificial Intelligence: a legal perspective

For users to be able to really make the most of a technology like AI, it is imperative that they are put in a position to use it in an informed way. By getting to know the potential outcome (and even the flows in the reasoning) of AI, the user can foresee the consequences of its use.

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Artificial intelligence

All Eyes on AI – Australian government launches Australia's first AI action plan

Four areas of focus identified

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Analysis

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Our relationship with AI: friend of foe?

Developed in conjunction with Milltown Partners, this report explores overall attitudes to technology and AI, the perceived benefits and risks of AI, as well as respondents' support for different regulatory approaches to AI and their confidence in the likelihood of those approaches succeeding.

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Upcoming events

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Webinar: Tech, Talk & Lunch [In German]

The EU is currently creating a comprehensive legal framework, particularly in the areas of digital platforms, data economy and artificial intelligence.  Is your company sufficiently prepared? In our new online series "Tech, Talk & Lunch", specialists from our German Tech Group provide exclusive insights and show examples of where companies are likely to need to take action.

During our first event on 21 March 2023, Dr Michael Kümmel (Senior Associate, Tech/Digital) and Dr Nicolas Hohn-Hein (Senior Associate, IP/IT) will address compliance issues regarding the legally compliant use of artificial intelligence ("AI") in companies. Other dates will focus on the new European Unified Patent Court (April 25, 2023) and EU Health Data Spaces (June 13, 2023).

 

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