Natural Language Processing for Legal Texts
Almost all law is expressed in natural language; therefore, natural language processing (NLP) is a key component of understanding and predicting law. Natural language processing converts unstructured text into a formal representation that computers can understand and analyze. This technology...
Pocket Constitutions: America’s Founding Document in Small Print
For a document that is usually found behind glass casing in museums and galleries, many have taken advantage of the ability to carry it in their purse, wallet—or better yet—their pocket. The US Constitution is one of the oldest and...
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Bias Preservation in Machine Learning: The Legality of Fairness Metrics Under EU Non-Discrimination Law
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Vanderbilt Law School’s Career Services Team provides students with the resources and support they need to achieve their career goals. Career counselors meet individually with students on a regular basis to learn how to develop resumes, emphasize strengths, and identify...
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Governance in Ethical, Trustworthy AI Systems: Extension of the ECCOLA Method for AI Ethics Governance Using GARP
Background: The continuous development of artificial intelligence (AI) and increasing rate of adoption by software startups calls for governance measures to be implemented at the design and development stages to help mitigate AI governance concerns. Most AI ethical design and...
The Dilemma and Countermeasures of AI in Educational Application
This paper divides the application of AI in education into three categories, namely, students-oriented AI, teachers-oriented AI and school mangers -oriented AI, which focuses on the individualized self-adaptive learning of students, the assisted teaching of teachers and the service management...
Auditing of AI in Railway Technology – a European Legal Approach
Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) promises major gains in productivity, safety and convenience through automation. Despite the associated euphoria, care needs to be taken to ensure that no immature, unsafe products enter the market, especially in high-risk areas. Artificial intelligence systems...
Computation of minimum-time feedback control laws for discrete-time systems with state-control constraints
The problem of finding a feedback law that drives the state of a linear discrete-time system to the origin in minimum-time subject to state-control constraints is considered. Algorithms are given to obtain facial descriptions of the <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">M</tex> -step...
Reconciling Legal and Technical Approaches to Algorithmic Bias
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of papers in the algorithmic fairness literature proposing various technical definitions of algorithmic bias and methods to mitigate bias. Whether these algorithmic bias mitigation methods would be permissible from a legal perspective...
Conversational Explanations of Machine Learning Predictions Through Class-contrastive Counterfactual Statements
Machine learning models have become pervasive in our everyday life; they decide on important matters influencing our education, employment and judicial system. Many of these predictive systems are commercial products protected by trade secrets, hence their decision-making is opaque. Therefore,...
Algorithmic Bias in Hiring Algorithms: A Kenyan Perspective
The use of machine learning algorithms has permeated into nearly all aspects of life. With this steady integration, tasks previously handled by humans are increasingly falling into the ‘hands’ of machines. Ideally this would be celebrated as a great improvement...
Auditing Algorithms for Discrimination
This Essay responds to the argument by Joshua Kroll, et al., in Accountable Algorithms, 165 U.PA.L.REV. 633 (2017), that technical tools can be more effective in ensuring the fairness of algorithms than insisting on transparency. When it comes to combating...
Algorithmic discrimination in the credit domain: what do we know about it?
Abstract The widespread usage of machine learning systems and econometric methods in the credit domain has transformed the decision-making process for evaluating loan applications. Automated analysis of credit applications diminishes the subjectivity of the decision-making process. On the other hand,...
Legal Database Renewal in the AI Era: Insights from Eversheds Sutherland’s AI Strategy
Abstract This article, written by Andrew Thatcher , explores Eversheds Sutherland’s approach to integrating generative AI knowledge tools, focusing on their evaluation, onboarding and the subscription management. Rather than debating the broader implications of AI in law, the paper provides...
Do not go gentle into that good night: The European Union's and China's different approaches to the extraterritorial application of artificial intelligence laws and regulations
Artificial intelligence and copyright and related rights
This article examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on copyright and related rights in the context of today’s digital environment. The growing role of AI in creativity and content creation creates new challenges and questions regarding ownership, authorship and...
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2025-26 Academic Calendar Please note: All times in U.S. Central. EventDate / Time First Registration Appointment Window (all 3Ls)June 16 (YES opens at 12:35 PM) thru June 22 (YES closes at 11:59 PM) Second Registration Appointment Window (all 2Ls/3Ls)June 23...
Approaches to Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in Open-Source Software and AI-Generated Products, Including Copyright Protection in AI Training.
China’s regulatory approaches to open-source resources and software deserve special attention due to the widespread global use of Chinese-developed solutions. China’s activity in the open-source software sector surged in 2020, laying the foundation for the type of innovations seen today....
Teaching fairness to artificial intelligence: Existing and novel strategies against algorithmic discrimination under EU law
Empirical evidence is mounting that artificial intelligence applications threaten to discriminate against legally protected groups. This raises intricate questions for EU law. The existing categories of EU anti-discrimination law do not provide an easy fit for algorithmic decision making. Furthermore,...
Ph.D. in Law and Economics
Vanderbilt Law School's Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics is unlike any other. Dual-degree students pursue a J.D. and a Ph.D. concurrently in a fully integrated curriculum that combines economic theory and methodology with the study of law. The program...
The risks of machine learning models in judicial decision making
Machine learning models, as tools of artificial intelligence, have an increasingly strong potential to become an integral part of judicial decision-making. However, the technical limitations of AI systems—often overlooked by legal scholarship—raise fundamental questions, particularly regarding the preservation of the...
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Natural Language, Legal Hurdles: Navigating the Complexities in Natural Language Processing Development and Application
This article delves into the legal challenges faced in developing and deploying Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies, focusing particularly on the European Union’s legal framework, especially the DSM Directive, the InfoSoc Directive, and the Artificial Intelligence Act. It addresses the...
CHANGE THE SYSTEM, NOT THE WOMAN: ADDRESSING WORKPLACE INEQUITIES STEMMING FROM THE AMERICAN ECONOMY - Minnesota Law Review
By: Alyssa Shaw, Volume 109 Staff Member If the progress towards closing the gender wage gap continues on the trends of the last few years, women will not be compensated equally to men until at least 2067—over a century after...
Privacy-Preserving Models for Legal Natural Language Processing
Pre-training large transformer models with in-domain data improves domain adaptation and helps gain performance on the domain-specific downstream tasks. However, sharing models pre-trained on potentially sensitive data is prone to adversarial privacy attacks. In this paper, we asked to which...
The copyright protection of AI-generated content in video games
Abstract The increasing use of artificial intelligence in video game development, particularly through advanced procedural content generation, challenges traditional copyright frameworks. While AI-generated content is now integral to enhancing efficiency and player experience, its copyright status remains disputed, especially regarding...
The intersection of AI and legal expertise: Transforming knowledge work in the legal profession
This article explores the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on legal knowledge work, examining the evolution from traditional document-centric processes to sophisticated AI-augmented workflows. The article shows the technological foundations of legal AI systems, highlighting the capabilities and limitations of...