The Race to AI Regulation

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Published by Shwetha Sivaraman at February 13, 2024

Article by Aaminah Khan

With AI becoming an increasing trend in today’s world, it also raises questions about regulation.

AI has been seen to have many benefits for both individuals and law firms alike. For example, with the increasing growth of the legal technology sector, ChatGPT and various other AI services are becoming increasingly incorporated into our everyday lives. Chat GPT now has 100 million weekly active users, and companies like Microsoft are investing heavily in AI. It is important to note that these opportunities also carry a number of risks, which has resulted in many countries racing to come up with ways to regulate this.

Regulation Trends

The US has already started to take a cautious approach to AI, with Joe Biden placing an emphasis on making sure all AI developments are aligned with safety and ethical standards. The EU has agreed to produce the recent EU AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive horizontal AI regulation. This Act seeks to ensure the safety of AI systems in the EU market whilst minimising risks to consumers. On the other hand, the UK has taken a different approach, which is all about embracing the opportunities presented by AI with the aim of making the UK the best place to develop and use AI technologies. This has sparked some debate about the regulation of AI. Are countries being too cautious in racing to produce regulatory measures? Should countries instead embrace the change and see it as a positive, or is doing so too risky? These are questions that will indeed be answered as we see the AI landscape develop as time goes on.

How does this impact law firms?

These current AI trends also have a significant impact on law firms. One big impact is the increased demand for lawyers specialising in regulatory compliance. With countries rushing to find ways to regulate AI, lawyers will have to stay up to date with these changes and help advise their clients to ensure they comply with these regulations. On the other hand, if clients have broken these regulations, there will be an increased demand for dispute resolution lawyers to help resolve these issues. It is clear that law firms will be heavily impacted by the ever-changing AI landscape and will continue to change in the coming years.