Curious Optimism About All Those State-Level Laws Creating A Convoluted Legal Patchwork About AI

In today’s column, I examine a conundrum when it comes to state-level AI laws becoming the predominant form of legally governing what AI and AI makers can and cannot do. The U.S. states are rapidly crafting and enacting new AI laws, while Congress has not yet been able to establish and pass a national comprehensive set of AI laws. This is creating a rather murky morass since the states are each devising their preferred AI laws, and there is no across-the-board consistency nationwide.

Most of the discussions about the situation tend to focus on the downsides. During a recent talk, I was asked whether there is anything optimistic about the prevailing conditions at play. Though it might seem a bit of a stretch, yes, there are indeed “positives” to the conundrum. I wouldn’t want to overstate the positives, but it does seem worthwhile to put them on the table. You can then decide whether this situation deserves a resolute happy face or a despondent sad face.

Let’s talk about it. This analysis of AI breakthroughs is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).

AI And The Law

As a quick background, I’ve been extensively covering and analyzing a myriad of facets regarding the intersection of AI and the law for many years. You can find my writings not only in my Forbes column but also as posted in Bloomberg Law, ABA Law Journal, The National Jurist, The Global Legal Post, Lawyer Monthly, The Legal Technologist, MIT Computational Law Journal, and so on.

There are two major perspectives on the mixture of AI and law:

• (1) Law & AI. The application of laws to the governance and regulation of AI.
• (2) AI & Law. The application of AI to perform legal reasoning.

Thus, you can apply the law to AI, and conversely, you can apply AI to the law. For my big picture overview of both of these exciting and rapidly evolving realms, see my discussion at the link here and the link here.