Some readers may recall that at the end of last year, the New York Times very publicly sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, in connection with the defendants’ alleged use of the newspaper’s content for purposes of training chatbots and other AI tools. Although this kind of lawsuit is pretty far outside the blog’s usual bailiwick, the litigation is still of interest as the landscape of AI-related litigation continues to develop. Now it appears that other media organizations are joining the bandwagon, as two different groups have now filed lawsuits against OpenAI, and, in one case, also against Microsoft. These latest cases are described in an interesting March 5, 2024 post on the SDNY Blog (here).Continue Reading More AI-Related IP Lawsuits Filed Against OpenAI and Microsoft

One of the most topical and potentially most significant recent developments had been the release of several different language-based generative artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. The advent of these tools, their ease of use, and their responsiveness has led to observers and commentators to question whether these tools could drive significant changes in the economy and labor force – among other things, for example, whether these tools might have significant implications for the practice of law. My own experience (discussed here) is that while these tools are interesting, they are no substitute for the research and writing of an experienced lawyer. A recent case, involving an experienced New York lawyer who relied on ChatGPT generated content in a legal brief in a client’s case, demonstrates the dangers involved for anyone who relies on ChatGPT as a substitute for legal research. The case was described in a May 27, 2023, New York Times article entitled “Here’s What Happens When Your Lawyer Uses ChatGPT” (here).Continue Reading AI is Not Quite Ready to Replace the Lawyers

You can hardly turn on any of your various devices these days without encountering yet another hyperventilating article or program about ChatGPT or, more generally, about artificial intelligence (AI) chat bots. Time magazine recently ran a cover story about ChatGPT and the AI chat bot race. As if that were not enough to signal that ChatGPT has arrived as the social phenomenon du jour, the Wall Street Journal recently ran a long self-consciously serious op-ed column in which Henry Kissinger and two other public intellectuals called ChatGPT “a new technology [that] bids to transform the human cognitive process.” Wow! OK, then.

Despite these and many other recent signs and signals of impending doom, I was fully prepared to ignore ChatGPT and carry on with my life – that is, until one of my colleagues recently asked me whether, given that advent of ChatGPT, my days as a blogger are about to come to an end? The question, in its simplest form, is whether I am about to be replaced by a machine. If you listen to the current ChatGPT hype, it may be a question that all of us need to be asking ourselves.Continue Reading Are We All About to be Replaced by AI Chat Bots?