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21 July 2023
Issue: 8034 / Categories: Legal News , Cyber , Technology , Libel , Defamation , Artificial intelligence
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NLJ this week: Electric dreams, AI confabulations & defamation law

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Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are known to ‘hallucinate’, making up false information or confabulating to fill gaps in their knowledge. But who is responsible in law for any libel or harm caused as a result? In this week’s NLJ, Chloe Flascher, associate at Withers, addresses this fascinating conundrum.

The lies and dreams of machines can cause real world risks. As Flascher writes: ‘ChatGPT recently invented a sexual harassment scandal, naming a real law professor as the accused (citing a fake Washington Post article as evidence in support of the allegation). Not only did no such article exist, but the real professor had never been accused of harassing a student, nor had he been present on the trip to Alaska described by the chatbot during which the purported sexual harassment took place.’

Flascher explores potential defamatory scenarios arising from generative AI, and analyses how this might be dealt with under current laws—read the full article here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal expands Midlands residential development team

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes

NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
Employers cannot rely on wellbeing services alone to defend workplace stress claims after a High Court decision awarding almost £1m to an overworked employee
Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
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