On April 15, John Frank Weaver will lead a discussion on the legal developments in artificial intelligence at the McLane Law Firm Conference Center in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Although it is commonly understood that the increasingly rapid development of robotics, autonomous technology, and artificial intelligence will continue to disrupt many commercial fields and traditional business practices, the effect these advances will have on the law is less widely discussed. But these technological changes will force us to revise laws and legal practices because they challenge one of the basic assumptions of our legal system: only human beings make decisions. However, as the country adopts cars that drive themselves, computer programs that write music and stories, and appliances that act more like a personal assistant than a toaster, decisions that were once made exclusively by people will be made by machines. This promises to raise complicated questions, like:
– If two self-driving cars get into an accident, who is at fault? Whose insurance will pay for the damages?
– What is the authority of the FAA to regulate autonomous and direct-controlled drones?
– When a machine writes music, who owns the copyright?
– When machines perform tasks normally done by humans – new hire interviews, police investigations, etc. – are there different legal restrictions?
And many others.
John Frank Weaver – McLane attorney, author of Robots Are People Too, and a contributing writer to Slate magazine, will discuss these issues and answer questions about their potential impact on the legal needs of businesses and individuals. John may be reached at (603) 628-1442 or by email at john.weaver@mclane.com.
About the McLane Law Firm
Founded in 1919, the McLane Law Firm is one of New England’s premier full-service law firms with more than 90 attorneys in four offices spread throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Driven by the firm’s depth of sophisticated legal expertise and an unwavering commitment to client service, McLane has built collaborative and lasting relationships with a broad spectrum of domestic and international clients. www.mclane.com