DLA Piper, one of the world’s largest law firms by revenue, has poached 10 data scientists from a small competitor to advise clients on the use of artificial intelligence, as regulators around the world draft policies to police technology developing rapidly.
The new unit at the multinational firm will be driven by the arrival of Bennett Borden, a former CIA officer who used data analytics and machine learning at the agency to predict human behavior. He will be joined by members of his former team at Faegre Drinker, along with current DLA staff.
“We’ll be able to go to our clients and not only tell them what their AI systems need to do to comply with regulations, but we can test and make sure they’re actually doing it,” said Danny Tobey, who chairs the DLA. intelligence practice.
As well as helping large companies and governments develop AI systems or algorithmic models and navigate new laws, the DLA says it will create AI tools that clients can use for their own legal tasks. The company will also use generative AI – the technology behind ChatGPT – to help lawyers themselves with research and writing tasks.
The move by DLA Piper comes after magic circle firm Allen & Overy announced last month that it was introducing a generative AI chatbot – named Harvey – to help lawyers draft contracts, mergers and acquisitions documents and memos to clients.
The launch of ChatGPT in November has sparked an avalanche of investment into AI technology. San-Francisco-based OpenAI, which created the program, has attracted an investment of more than $10 billion from Microsoft, with a value of $29bn.
But the proliferation of the technology raises ethical questions about algorithmic bias, as well as concerns about copyright and licensing, especially with regard to AI-generated images.
Politicians have scrambled to introduce laws that will regulate the emerging technology, with legislation such as the EU’s AI Act expected to come into effect later this year. In the US, the FTC has stepped up efforts to regulate the industry, most recently warning companies not to exaggerate the effectiveness of their software.
“There are more than 700 active policy initiatives around the world trying to manage AI,” DLA’s Tobey said, adding that “the ground is constantly shifting. [businesses’] foot”.
DLA has been heavily involved in lobbying lawmakers in Washington on AI regulations. Tony Samp, a senior policy advisor at the company, is the founding director of the US Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus. DLA also employs Paul Hemmersbaugh, who designed the first federal autonomous vehicle policy while working for the US government.
Those skills, DLA management says, will not be replaced by AI.
“There is no technology on Earth today that replaces human judgment or automatically administers the law,” Tobey said. “And I’m not sure there will be.”