IP and the Internet in the Age of AI

A deep dive discussion into the emerging issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence and its interaction with the law. The course works through the ways in which the Internet has impacted the law, and the law has impacted the Internet, since its emergence in the 1990s in order to set up a framework for examination of the manner in which Artificial Intelligence is doing the same, how things might be the same or different, and what we can take from the experience of the last 30 years and apply it to the present and the future.

Along the way, we will study and debate numerous issues, including: protections for preexisting and new intellectual property, freedom of speech, fostering environments for advancement of business and societal goals, protection and responsibility of players at all levels (companies, individuals, intermediaries) for identified and yet-unidentified social harms, and critical evaluation of what has and has not worked, and what may or may not need adjustment as we move forward.

Course evaluation: All students are expected to engage in robust class discussion, and to make an in-class presentation (solo or in pairs, depending on the class size). Grades will be assigned based on (a) a 15-20 page paper due at the end of the term; (b) performance on in-class presentations; and (c) general class participation. Prior intellectual property or technology law courses are not required. Students are given significant latitude to choose their own topics for their in-class presentations and end-of-semester papers, with the caveat that the topics should address some aspect of the interaction between Artificial Intelligence and the law (the legal system, legal education and/or the legal profession) OTHER THAN what is already being covered in the course materials.