5 Essex Chambers hosts seminar on AI and the Future of the Law

5 Essex Chambers hosted a well-attended seminar on 3 May 2023 on AI and the Future of the Law. The event was hosted by Francesca Whitelaw KC, who acted for South Wales Police in the High Court and Court of Appeal in the world’s first case on the lawfulness of automatic facial recognition, R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police. The keynote speaker was Peter Jackson, the Chief Data and Technology Officer at Outra, who spoke engagingly and compellingly about the ethics of Artificial Intelligence, arguing that ethics, not law, has to be the first line of defence to misuse or abuse of AI, whether that relates to training data, deployment, risk or the use of what AI generates. As he put it – just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Alex Ustych then spoke on risk and regulation of AI, drawing on examples from the UK and other jurisdictions to weigh up the benefits (including to the legal sector) and costs. Finally, John Goss spoke on the impact of AI on public sector decision-making and challenges to it, contrasting the role of the Information Commissioner and that of the Administrative Court, and suggesting that adaptation is likely to be required wherever the balance is struck.

The wide-ranging and thought-provoking talks demonstrate the enormous potential AI has to change all elements of society. Inevitably, law – and lawyers – will have to change in response. 5 Essex Chambers’s specialist information law barristers continue to be at the cutting edge of this developing field.

---

Authors

Francesca Whitelaw KC

Call 2003 | Silk 2023

Alex Ustych

Call 2010

John Goss

Call 2015

Related areas

AI

---