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Joe Miller in New York

Mar 05 2023

Law firm DLA Piper poaches data scientists to capitalise on AI boom

DLA Piper, one of the world’s largest law firms by revenue, has poached 10 data scientists from a smaller rival to advise clients on the use of artificial intelligence, as regulators across the world draft policies to police the rapidly expanding technology.

A new unit at the multinational firm will be boosted by the arrival of Bennett Borden, a former CIA official who used data analytics and machine learning at the agency to predict human behaviour. He will be joined by members of his former team at Faegre Drinker, alongside current DLA staff.

“We will 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 them and make sure they are in fact doing that,” said Danny Tobey, who chairs DLA’s artificial intelligence practice.

As well as helping large companies and governments develop AI systems or algorithmic models and navigate new laws, DLA said it would build AI tools that can be used by clients for their own legal tasks. The firm will also use generative AI — the technology behind ChatGPT — to help its own lawyers with mundane research and writing assignments.

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, merger and acquisition documents and memos to clients.

The launch of ChatGPT in November has triggered an avalanche of investment into AI technologies. San-Francisco based OpenAI, which created the program, has itself attracted a further $10bn of investment from Microsoft, at a $29bn valuation.

But the proliferation of the technology has raised ethical questions about algorithmic bias, as well as concerns over copyright and licensing, particularly around AI-created images.

Politicians have scrambled to introduce laws that will govern the evolving technology, with legislation such as the EU’s AI Act expected to come into force later this year. In the US, the FTC has been increasing its efforts to regulate the industry, most recently warning companies against exaggerating the effectiveness of their software.

“There are over 700 active policy initiatives globally trying to regulate AI,” said DLA’s Tobey, adding that as a result “the ground keeps shifting under [businesses’] feet”.

DLA is already heavily involved in lobbying lawmakers in Washington over AI regulations. Tony Samp, a senior policy adviser at the firm, was the founding director of the US Senate’s Artificial Intelligence Caucus. DLA also employs Paul Hemmersbaugh, who drafted the first federal autonomous vehicle policy when working for the US government.

Such expertise, DLA’s management stressed, would not itself be replaced by AI.

“There is no technology on Earth right now that replaces human judgment or that automatically administers law,” Tobey said. “And I’m not sure there will ever be.”

Written by Joe Miller in New York · Categorized: entrepreneur, Technology · Tagged: entrepreneur, Technology

Feb 17 2023

Third high-level FTX executive nears US plea deal

The former head of engineering at the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX is nearing a plea deal with federal prosecutors, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially bolstering the criminal case against founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Nishad Singh, who worked at FTX’s affiliated trading platform Alameda and then at FTX itself, would be the third high-level employee to co-operate with the government, after former Alameda chief Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang pleaded guilty to several charges in December.

News of the impending plea agreement with Singh was first reported by Bloomberg.

Ellison and Wang are expected to give evidence in the looming trial against Bankman-Fried, who faces eight criminal charges and could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty.

FTX, which was once valued at $32bn, collapsed into bankruptcy in November after being unable to meet a wave of withdrawal demands from customers. Prosecutors said the collapse, which left more than 1mn potential creditors, was “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history”.

In a closed hearing in December, hours before Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas to New York, Ellison told a US federal judge that from 2019 to 2022 Alameda had access to “an unlimited line of credit on FTX.com” and she “knew that it was wrong”.

Nishad Singh and Caroline Ellison
Nishad Singh, left, and Caroline Ellison, right, were both part of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle © Financial Times

She has since told prosecutors Bankman-Fried preferred to communicate using ephemeral and encrypted platforms, in order to limit the amount of evidence in potential future litigation. The government has used this testimony to argue for tighter bail conditions, which could preclude Bankman-Fried from using the internet and certain devices.

Singh, a school friend of Bankman-Fried’s younger brother, once worked as a software engineer for Facebook, before joining Alameda in 2017.

Last month, FTX sought to subpoena Singh, alongside several members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, as part of the exchange’s bankruptcy proceedings under way in Delaware. The court granted the request.

A lawyer for Singh and the office of the US attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment. A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

Bankman-Fried, who has been released on bail and is staying at his parents’ house in Palo Alto pending trial, appeared in court in New York on Thursday, after prosecutors accused of him of witness tampering for attempting to contact Ryne Miller, FTX US’s general counsel.

The former billionaire’s lawyers — who deny their client was trying to influence a witness — argued for more lax bail conditions that would allow Bankman-Fried to communicate using a variety of platforms, including direct messages on Twitter, where he has more than 1mn followers.

But Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding over the case, raised the prospect of revoking Bankman-Fried’s bail if he was not satisfied that the defendant was unable to use technology to hide his communications.

A trial for Bankman-Fried is scheduled for October.

Written by Joe Miller in New York · Categorized: entrepreneur, Technology · Tagged: entrepreneur, Technology

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