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AI & the Law Seminar

Law 564 CRN 90965

Fall 2022

Welcome.

The first class will be Tuesday, August 16, 2022 from 4:10 pm-6:40 pm, in HH G 108.

This seminar explores various aspects of the interaction of artificial intelligence and the law including some or all of the following aspects: bias in AI expert systems and AI analysis and its impacts on minorities traditionally marginalized groups (e.g., setting bail and criminal sentencing); AI and IP; IP social justice aspects of AI including the EU’s General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) requiring AI to be explainable for certain critical settings such as medical diagnosis; AI and social media concerns; implications of AI for employment, the economic system, and legal responses thereto; liability for AI errors (e.g., self-driving cars); and applying AI to legal decision-making for claims for benefits such as social security disability or workers compensation.

The course is a seminar with students writing and presenting research papers on topics they select in consultation with and subject to the approval of the professor. Grades will be based upon (1) class participation, (2) conducting class on your paper topic, and (3) the final paper.

Papers submitted for this course can qualify for LW3 credit.

You can contact me at stevenjamar@gmail.com.

Required Readings and Materials

The only required book is not a law book, but rather an excellent introduction to what AI is and is not:

Janelle Shane, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place (Voracious 2019)

Also required will be book chapter by Prof. Jamar which will be distributed in pdf form at the start of class.

Steven D. Jamar, A Social Justice Perspective on IP Protection for Artificial Intelligence Programs, ch. ___ in Steven D. Jamar and Lateef Mtima, eds., Handbook on IP and Social Justice (forthcoming, Cambridge U Press 2022)

Required readings and other materials will be provided primarily through links to online resources

Materials assigned by students for their class presentations

Assignments for first week

For the first class come prepared to discuss some recent news concerning AI & the law. Issues pop up regularly in the news regarding AI developments that have some legal implications or issues.

Coded Bias https://www.codedbias.com/about (available on Netflix and PBS) ( "Coded Bias follows M.I.T. Media Lab computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, along with data scientists, mathematicians, and watchdog groups from all over the world, as they fight to expose the discrimination within algorithms now prevalent across all spheres of daily life."https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/coded-bias/) A related resource you may find helpful in this course. Algorithmic Justice League.

Frontline: In the Age of AI (PBS Nov. 5, 2019) (2 hrs)

Social Dilemma (2020 Netflix documentary) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11464826/)

Max Simkoff & Andy Mahdavi, AI Doesn't Actually Exist Yet (Scientific American online, November 12, 2019)