Practitioners, lawmakers, academics, trainees, in-house lawyers, and civil society representatives gathered at Herbert Smith Freehills’ offices in London for the annual Society for Computers and Law AI conference. The event brought together experts to explore the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and legal practice.

Minesh Tanna, Chair of the SCL AI Group, opened the event alongside Alexander Amato-Cravero, welcoming attendees and emphasising the growing opportunities AI presents for the legal profession.

Keynote: Lord Holmes on AI Regulation

In his keynote opening the event, Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE discussed his bill on AI regulation, emphasising that in the UK, it is now time to legislate and have our own legislation beyond the EU AIA paradigm. He highlighted the UK’s strengths which lie in its strong institutions, including legal firms and the nature of English common law. In his view, his bill benefits from principles-based and outward-focused approaches, which incorporates social, democratic, and economic factors. He advocated for right-sized legislation to provide certainty, clarity, and market stability, adding that such principles are beneficial not just for AI, but for regulation in general.

Lord Holmes also highlighted that together, we can make a difference to the legal landscape of AI, which is why events like this are so important.

Regulatory Frameworks and Industry Impact

The conference moved into an interactive panel session co-chaired by Minesh Tanna and Professor Lorna Woods OBE of the University of Essex. Panellists included Emerita Professor Lilian Edwards, Sara Vero of JP Morgan Chase, Charlie Lyons-Rothbart from the SCL AI Committee, and Stephen Dowling, CEO of TrialView.

Lilian Edwards began by pointing out that China has been considerably ahead in regulating deepfakes and generative AI since 2021, taking a vertical approach to AI regulation. She also noted the shift in the USA, where there is an increasing focus on regulatory efforts at both the national and subnational (state) levels, reflecting a transitional stage in the AI landscape.

In the UK, she asked, where are we headed? Much attention is places towards the AI Safety Institute, but other crucial issues such as discrimination, competition, and misinformation seem to be overlooked and are more of a current challenge. Additionally, she clarified that the EU AIA is not a hard regulatory approach but more of a co-regulatory scheme, involving self-labelling and conformity with technical standards. She mentioned that 2026 and 2027 will see the development of these standards, indicating that we still have a long way to go.

In the meantime, Edwards emphasised that while new laws are being developed, existing laws—like data protection, consumer law, copyright, and hate speech regulations—are where most of the discussion should be rooted. Lorna Woods added that litigation and class action in the US are changing the landscape, which brings additional challenges to the AI sector.

Charlie Lyons-Rothbart elaborated on the regulatory compliance schemes, asking what startups and scale-ups have in common. They highlighted that they often have small teams, limited cash, and a need to attract funding, all while entering the market to generate revenue. Complying with the technical documentation required by the EU AIA, he explained, brings substantial compliance costs and requires specialised teams. What may seem straightforward on paper is often highly impractical for these smaller companies.

Sara Vero (JP Morgan) discussed how AI regulation impacts businesses operating in regulated industries, such as banking and finance. She explained how professionals in the field are identifying areas of AI regulation that are connected in other regulatory frameworks, all which requires an interdisciplinary approach. She noted that AI regulation is increasingly touching every aspect of her organisation’s operations.

Stephen Dowling shared his experience running a litigation platform (TrialView), classified as a high-risk system under the EU AIA. He explained how they assist litigators, arbitrators, and judges by providing digital tools for preparing and conducting hearings. However, he pointed out that even before the AIA, they had to align with best practices and standards due to market demands.

Industry Perspectives on AI

The second session, chaired by Shanthini Satyendra, Vice-Chair of the SCL AI Committee, began with an address from SCL President Richard Susskind, who encouraged young professionals to engage with the society through initiatives like the SCL junior lawyer essay competition.

In the panel, Luke Pearce discussed their experience with transcription and customer calls, emphasising the importance of starting with a human-in-the-loop approach before moving towards fully autonomous solutions. Angela Lughet shared insights from McKinsey’s latest global AI survey.

Lord Clement-Jones stressed that AI is different from other technologies; it’s not like the arrival of spreadsheets in organisations. AI changes workforces and processes and requires a deeper level of understanding. He noted that only about half of CEOs are actively engaged in AI initiatives within their organisations. He also commented that if the UK had been more formally involved in the EU AIA, it could have had exert a much more defined influence in the text and form. While he doesn’t disagree with the AIA, he believes there are still opportunities for improvement. He concurred with Lilian Edwards’ previous intervention, stating that the so-called existential risks are not the ones requiring immediate attention, but rather the challenges we face today.

AI in Legal Services

In the third session, chaired by John Maton, panellists Henry Goodwin of Leo Capital, Sarah Harris of Kingsley Napley LLP, and Ashley Winton of the Data Protection Forum, discussed AI’s role in legal services. Goodwin compared AI’s current trajectory to the rise of software in the legal industry, noting that AI adoption is following a similar path. Harris highlighted the need for AI tools to bridge the gap between junior and senior lawyers, while Winton argued that new areas of customer-consumer transactions are yet to be found.

Mock adjudication

The last session dealt with an AI Mock Adjudication, including Dispute Notice, Response Notice, and Adjudicator appointment. Iain Munro (Chair), Barrister and Mediator, Lawrence Akka KC, Barrister and Arbitrator, Twenty Essex, Dr Gill Hunt, Independent IT Expert, Matthew Lavy KC, Barrister, 4 Pump Court; SCL Trustee. The recording is available here:

Additionally

The conference also marked the launch of the SCL Mediation Scheme and the SCL EU AI Act Contractual Clauses. Throughout the day, David Sharp, Amy Gibson, and James Phoenix provided additional insights into AI’s application across various sectors.

Mauricio Figueroa is a lawyer (UNAM, Mexico – Tel Aviv University, Israel) and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Newcastle Law School, where he is a member of the research group “Law and Futures”. @mfiguerres

The post The SCL AI Conference: Key Takeaways appeared first on Society for Computers & Law.

“Rising stars” are invited to record their impressions of the Conference in any form they choose (in previous years these have been event reports, infographs and even poems!). These impressions are then shared on the SCL website.

Victor has captured his perspective on the Conference via a vlog. The video features interviews with attendees as well as Victor’s thoughts on the various sessions and themes of the day and is a fantastic snapshot of this historic SCL event.

Many thanks Victor!

The webinar replay of the SCL 50th Anniversary Conference is available to purchase online. Click here for more details: https://www.scl.org/podcasts/13006-scl-50th-anniversary-conference-2023

The post SCL 50th Anniversary Conference 2023 – Rising Star Impression appeared first on Society for Computers & Law.

This power of the narrative provided a thread throughout last week’s Annual Conference. It was the 50th anniversary one if that had escaped your notice which, as opening keynote speakers Richard Susskind and Mark O’Conor noted, is a tale in itself. 

The event began with a captivating display of visual storytelling. A brief yet impactful video illuminated the core values that have defined and permeated the Society throughout its 50-year history: collaboration, diversity, community, openness and expertise, unparalleled training, thought-leadership, tracking emerging technologies and advocating for technology law. All of this unfolded to the invigorating beats of Fatboy Slim’s “Right Here, Right Now,” setting the stage for the day ahead.

Conference Co-Chairs Patricia Shaw and Sue McLean welcomed delegates, both online and in the room, and set the scene with a look back at the past 50 years, a celebration of the present and a look ahead to what comes next, all in the form of a poem!

The aforementioned Opening Keynote speakers, Richard Susskind and Mark O’Conor, then reflected on the history of the Society, the milestones of technology it has embraced and the evolution from mainly lawtech to mainly tech law but Mark also mentioned the narrative around Y2K without which that particular issue may never have attained the mythical status it now assumes in the public consciousness.

With this theme in mind then, what follows is an attempt to impart a flavour of the day in six short tales.

Edward Scissorhands: the insurer’s cut  
Jacob Haddad’s novel take on the ambiguities of what, if any, cyber risks are covered in insurance policies was told through the lens of Edward Scissorshands. Johnny Depp’s character in the film is a morass of ambiguities – how does the world react to a man with potential weapons for hands? Similar uncertainties can be seen in cyber insurance, especially as insurers rush to limit liability wherever they can. One example: a claim arising from a fraudster manipulating a paper form may be covered but the same fraudster manipulating a pdf is not.   

The most expensive pizza in history?
The ‘flash’ talks by members of the SESG group included one on the growing use of DAOs (Decentralised Autonomous Organizations managed on a blockchain if you need a prompt). Lisa McCrory recounted the origins of the Pizza DAO which celebrates Bitcoin Pizza Day each year on May 22nd, the day when an enthusiast of the newly fangled cryptocurrency bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC, equivalent to $20m at today’s rates. More importantly, Lisa highlighted how these groups are challenging existing legal norms. For example the Law Commission is examining whether they are partnerships or and hinted at their use as a vehicle for data trusts. 

Dog bites witness
In keeping with the 50th anniversary reflections, a panel reviewed the seminal cases over that period. Alongside the inevitable discussion of St Albans, software and tangibility, Lynne McCafferty KC felt it churlish not to mention the dog. BSkyB v EDS will go down in history for the unveiling of Mr Galloway’s dodgy MBA, one that Lulu, the pet dog of counsel for BSkyB, had managed to obtain for a small fee. Later the panel, through Westley Walker, pondered liability in the age of AI: no significant cases have emerged so far (possibly being settled) but when they do, foreseeability will be a crucial ingredient. 

BBQ (data) for sale
Josh Joshi, who works for an edge infrastructure company, loves a BBQ. So when he gets shown adverts for the latest in BBQ technology after an online ad auction for his personal data, he sees that as success for the infrastructure behind it. But what is good enough for an ad auction – who cares if it takes half a second to load – may not be good enough for a self driving car. This insight led to a revelatory discussion about the sustainability of the industry in the face of the tsunami of compute coming our way on the back of AI. Josh told the audience that in his 20 years in the industry, he had been commissioned to build perhaps 250-350 megawatts of data centre capacity. In the past 90 days that figure sits at 1.3 gigawatts. So while data centres are essentially ‘glorified fridges’ this sudden explosion in demand may necessitate regulation. The Netherlands does not have enough electricity to house more data centres and by 2030 it is estimated the data processing will be second only to the automotive sector in its production of CO2. 

The racist policeman and the book loving boy
For storytelling though, the stand out was Vinod Bange. Chairing a session on the future of privacy and identity, he laid bare two intensely personal stories to a hushed, you-can-hear-a- pin-drop audience. The first was of his disturbing run in with a racist policeman who refused to believe a nine year old child of his background had been to the library to borrow, not steal, some books. The second was of a visit to the Ganges where distant relatives have been scattered for many generations. While there, he discovered an office which is responsible for recording the names of everyone who had been sent on their way, with records dating back to 1350. His data protection antennae perked up so he quizzed the clerk who replied safety is ensured by a higher authority than temporal laws. The purpose of his tales was to hammer home the importance of protecting highly sensitive personal data while seeking the benefits such as personalised medicine promised as AI gets into its stride. 

“Are you sitting comfortably? Then Let us Begin…”
The Conference reached its denouement with a closing keynote from Christina Demetriades. In musing on “the next wave of technology change” she stressed the importance of being ready for the challenges and risks of next generation computing while embracing the opportunities and transformation offered across multiple sectors. It was an exhilarating and thought-provoking end to the day leaving us, in fine narrative tradition, on something of a cliffhanger. What and how should we regulate for the future? Will our digital twins be running the world? Was this all an AI hallucination?

Of course these were not the only yarns to emerge from the day so I have to apologise for omitting the roster of other speakers who tackled everything from human rights in tech law, the next wave of technology, contracting for AI to the future of Open Source to name a few. It was a day exemplifying the extraordinary range of knowledge tech lawyers now need to keep pace with. 

Yet strangely the overarching meta narrative, if you like, was one of an emerging unifying thread being woven between these diffuse issues. There is a link between human rights and the water required to cool a data centre and that link is AI. Professor Susskind professed in his opening address that his first sight of ChatGPT that November day last year felt like a seismic moment. Given almost every speaker and panellist at the conference eventually converged on AI and the impact it will have in the near future, Professor Susskind’s sense of wonder seems instinctively right. 

What of the dragon under the sofa though I hear you ask? Was it just clickbait? Well Elizabeth Denham, the former Information Commissioner broadcasting in the early hours from Canada, never really got to recount the fable in full because of time constraints though I assume it was to illustrate something about the Age Appropriate Design Code. 

But her granddaughter knows the dragon is there: perhaps living with an AI.  

‘The SCL Annual Conference is always great but in its 50th year SCL really excelled itself! There were a huge range of topics delivered by a mix of private practice and in house lawyers which all interlinked together beautifully providing a great insight into the challenges and opportunities facing today’s technology lawyers. There was a particular emphasis on AI and discussion surrounding a project the SCL AI group has been wording on – AI contractual clause. There was a great hubbub as technology lawyers mingled together to discuss the topics over drinks at the end. What a great time to be a technology lawyer!” Anne Rose, SCL Trustee, Managing Associate and co-lead of the Blockchain Group, Mishcon de Reya

“As always, the SCL Annual Conference was a fantastic event. The speakers were world class, and the program covered the breadth of issues facing today’s technology lawyers. As well as providing invaluable insight into those issues, the speakers also demonstrated how inevitably interlinked all those issues are! From Digital Media, Tech Disputes and Contracting for AI, to Open Source, Privacy and Regulating Digital Infrastructures, there was something for everyone.” Shelley Thomas, SCL Trustee, Associate General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Bank of America

If you missed this milestone event, you can purchase the recording at our website. Attendees receive automatic access to the webinar replay: https://www.scl.org/podcasts/13006-scl-50th-anniversary-conference-2023 

The post SCL 50th Anniversary Conference Event Report: “The Dragon Under the Sofa and other stories” appeared first on Society for Computers & Law.

The SCL 50th Anniversary Conference – a visual overview appeared first on Society for Computers & Law.

Anita Bapat (Kemp Little LLP)

Tom O’Flynn (Google)

James Evan (Verizon media)

Alex Abrahams (DMGT)

Karishma Brahmbhatt (Allen & Overy LLP)

Event Overview

With ad-tech a key focus for data protection authorities such as the ICO and CNIL, panellists James, Alex and Tom methodically described ad-tech infrastructure, and the various players involved within the ad-tech ecosystem and their controllership positions, before detailing data flows and key privacy challenges the industry is facing.

The panel also discussed the ICO’s recent report on ad-tech and real time bidding before exploring the ways in which the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) can help those in the ad-tech industry to meet their privacy and security obligations.

Key Takeaways from this Session

Data Protection controllership position of key players

–         Context specific

–         No universally accepted view

–         Likely that the vast majority of players will be controllers (though note the possibility for the same entity to be processor for some types of processing, and controller for others)

ICO report: ‘update report into ad-tech and real time bidding’

–         Notes that in general the ad-tech industry has work to do to be fully GDPR-compliant, and need to focus on technological solutions to, amongst other things, increase transparency.

–         Raises difficult questions around lawful basis for processing data after placement of cookies, categorisation of real time bids amounting to sensitive personal information, and profiling.

–         Key aggravating factors for the ICO appear to be lack of transparency, scale of processing and data leakage throughout the supply chain

IAB TCF

–         Aims to help the ad-tech industry to comply with GDPR and e-privacy obligations

–         TCF v2.0 helps to address some of the issues raised by the ICO’s report

The post Key Takeaways from the SCL Privacy and DP Group Event: Ad Tech – Bring Everyone to the Table appeared first on Society for Computers & Law.