Futuristic Lawyer

Tech Philosopher on How AI Changes Knowledge Work

Sune Selsbæk-Reitz [https://substack.com/profile/236642841-sune-selsbk-reitz] is a fellow Danish tech philosopher and author of the new book “Promptism: Fluent Machines, Forgotten Questions, and the Fight for Meaning in the Age of AI [https://technicspub.com/promptism/]” which wrestles with questions of how generative AI systems change our relationship with knowledge. When we interact with chatbots, we expect fluency and well-presented answers with little to no room for interpretation and ambiguity. Yet, reality is rarely so simple and learning and progress tend to reside in confusion, failed attempts, friction and doubt, not in confident-sounding answers to hard problems. Selsbæk-Reitz describes in Promptism: “Every era invents the lie it most wants to believe. For ours, it’s the lie that clarity equals truth. I would argue that we’ve grown allergic to complication. All we want is our politics to be simple, our science to be certain, and our morality to be frictionless. Large language models feed that appetite with surgical precision and shape the answers we accept.” According to Selsbæk-Reitz, it’s vital that we adopt pauses for uninterrupted thinking in daily life, refuse to accept readily available answers as a default, seek out friends we disagree with, and learn to sit with uncomfortable doubt and challenging questions without reaching for the nearest resolution. The problem of AI’s presentation of a false, but convenient reality is counterintuitive and non-obvious. Frankly, I thought this was a difficult conversation to have, but an important one to open up. Links: Two thirds of students say AI is hurting their critical thinking. They’re using it more than ever. [https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtificialInteligence/comments/1s52lhb/two_thirds_of_students_say_ai_is_hurting_their/] Hikikomori: Why are so many Japanese men refusing to leave their rooms? [https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23182523] The average attention span has shrunk to roughly 40 seconds. Here’s how to get it back. [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/health/article/attention-spans-shrinking-how-to-regain] Get full access to Futuristic Lawyer at www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe [https://www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Disinformation Expert on the Impacts & Laws

I recently sat down for a chat with disinformation expert Ricardo Vásquez Dazarola [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardo-v%C3%A1squez-dazarola-1b868249/]. Here are my main takeaways from our conversation: * Disinformation is intentional (e.g. political influence campaigns) while misinformation is false information, but without any intention of harm. * Disinformation is “lawful, but awful”, whereas hate speech is illegal in many countries. Each jurisdiction has a different threshold and understanding of what constitutes illegal speech (yet social media’s moderation policies are typically based on the American standard). * Literacy campaigns and education is the best way for a society to absorb disinformation. In Finland and Estonia, children are taught about disinformation from a young age to mitigate the impacts of Russian propaganda campaigns. * Humans have always lied and spread false information, but social media and AI exacerbate the issues. Laws cannot regulate ‘the truthfulness’ of what people say online or in private messages. What they can do is regulating how information is distributed. For example, Brazil adopted a law that said messaging apps such as WhatsApp had to be designed in such a way that you cannot share the same message with more than three people during elections. * The law should address technology on the level of its design, contrary to regulating its impacts which are many and often unknown. * The role of social media platforms is not to screen what is true and what is important. The role of social media is to provide users with the right tools, so they can easily screen relevant information for themselves. Currently, social media platforms are intentionally making it hard to do so, because they want to increase engagement as much as possible. * Social media platforms should be transparent about deepfakes and who sponsors political advertisement ( requirements under EU law). * As of now, social media is best used for stupid things, not as a reliable source of news. Get full access to Futuristic Lawyer at www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe [https://www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

How Will AI Change the Work of Lawyers?

Today my guest is Justin Curl [https://substack.com/profile/88527826-justin-curl] who works in the intersection of tech, law, and AI policy. Justin co-wrote the paper, AI Won’t Automatically Make Legal Services Cheaper [https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/ai-won-t-automatically-make-legal-services-cheaper] with Sayash Kapoor [https://substack.com/@sayash], and Arvind Narayanan [https://substack.com/@aisnakeoil] and has surveyed lawyers about their experience using AI tools [https://www.understandingai.org/p/ai-is-just-starting-to-change-the] for Understanding AI [https://open.substack.com/pub/understandingai]. We discuss how AI is already changing the work of lawyers and what the legal profession may look like in the short-term future. A topic of major importance to society! What do you think? Join the conversation in the comments. From the archive: Get full access to Futuristic Lawyer at www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe [https://www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Antitrust, Big Tech & Societal Collapse

In this episode, Matt Stoller [https://substack.com/profile/759128-matt-stoller] from BIG by Matt Stoller [https://open.substack.com/pub/mattstoller] joins me for a discussion about antitrust in the US vs. the EU. The short story is: things are not looking good. The inability to effectively curb monopolies is a symptom of failed democracy. In European countries there is a tendency to blame Trump and Big Tech for many problems (I am guilty of this). In reality, the EU may only be a few years behind on the authoritarian trajectory. In spite of all the high-minded intentions and talks about digital sovereignty, there is too much bureaucracy, too much inaction, excuses, and a pronounced unwillingness to deal with problems head-on. What kind of risks and harms are Big Tech posing to societies? Why are the EU and the US not able to enforce their laws against these companies? And what can be done? If these questions interest you, please listen along. Get full access to Futuristic Lawyer at www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe [https://www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Privacy & AI

For anyone with an interest in the intersection of privacy and AI, here is my conversation with Privacat [https://substack.com/profile/116041592-privacat]. We get through many topics, including Privacat’s experience in Palantir, the privacy implications of agentic AI browsers, how the EU should deal with American tech companies, why the digital omnibus package is a step in the right direction, and how the EU should rethink its data privacy laws. If you want to see more of Privacat’s work , I recommend the first part of her post series about OpenAI’s mission with ChatGPT Health on Substack: “The Ladder to Nowhere: How OpenAI Plans to Learn Everything About You [https://insights.priva.cat/p/the-ladder-to-nowhere-how-openai]” Get full access to Futuristic Lawyer at www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe [https://www.futuristiclawyer.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]