A Supreme Court judgment, chatbots and training: eight legal tech stories to have on your radar
Closing a legal loophole for chatbots, AI verification concerns and reflections on skills: here’s our roundup of tech news and views from across the sector and beyond.
1. Online safety laws to include AI chatbots
BBC News
The UK government is taking steps to close a legal loophole to ensure that all AI chatbot providers abide by illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act.
2. AI chatbots – and their impact on the justice system
The Observer
A number of people are using chatbots in court to generate claims or defences (without a lawyer) in a phenomenon known as ‘vibe lawyering’.
The Observer explores the impact.
3. AI is forcing us to rethink how junior lawyers are trained
Thomson Reuters
Addressing fear around AI taking junior lawyers’ jobs, in his latest Thomson Reuters column US AI law professor Tom Martin explains why he believes this assumption reveals a “fundamental misunderstanding” about where legal value lies.
4. AI and disclosure: what to expect this year
The Law Society Gazette
Maria Shahid explains why generative AI (GenAI) promises a “step change” in efficiency and cost-effectiveness for managing electronic documents in commercial litigation – and how it might help “level the playing field” in litigation for small firms.
5. Reflections on new AI guidance for judicial office holders
The Law Society Gazette
Fieldfisher lawyers John McElroy and Kurt Shead discuss AI regulation in law and recent cases that have highlighted the risks of unverified AI outputs.
They explore recent guidance for judicial office holders – and suggest that it is “critical that UK solicitors review and understand” it.
6. Junior lawyers need AI verification skills – report
Artificial Lawyer
The Artificial Lawyer covers new survey findings from LexisNexis, which includes concern from respondents about junior lawyers’ ability to develop critical judgement skills as AI usage increases.
7. Supreme Court delivers ‘bombshell’ ruling on software patents – or does it?
The Law Society Gazette
The Law Society Gazette unpacks what the recent Supreme Court judgment on Emotional Perception AI Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents means for how UK patent law treats AI and computer software.
8. UK government attends AI Impact Summit in India
GOV.UK
In February, a UK delegation led by deputy prime minister David Lammy and AI minister Kanishka Narayan attended the global AI event to discuss how AI could contribute to growth, create jobs and improve public services.
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