Futurelawyer

Okay, You Have Operator Running. What Now?

Okay, pilgrim. Open AI has given you access to the beta version of Operator. You will get it earlier if you are a paid subscriber. I can't wait. So, what is all the fuss about? Well, I sometimes spend an hour or so searching the web for campsites for my RV on Florida State park or County Park sites, or, if I can afford it that month, sites at Ft. Wilderness or commercial RV parks. We tend to travel around Florida only, since I am still actively practicing. What if I could just ask Sunshine to do it for me? 

DocDraft.AI - World's Most Intelligent Legal Assistant.

DocDraft.AI. Will Gen AI cause lawyers to become obsolete? Probably not but the drudge work of drafting complex legal documents will certainly become easier. DocDraft.AI looks like a pretty good starting point for drafting all sorts of legal documents, such as Wills, trusts, leases, and so forth. You answer basic questions for the AI, and it creates a basic beginning document that can be added to, subtracted from, and otherwise edited into a finished product. Of course, legal knowledge will always be required to make it better but it is clear that basic document drafting is going to become far easier for legal professionals as the Gen AI products become commonplace. You can check it out at the website. Draft a better documents. Start with a computer assistant.

Elon Musk Does It Again....Now, All Phones Are Sat Phones.

Elon Musk Has Done it - Using Cell Phones To Make Calls Anywhere On Earth. It is becoming old news. Elon Musk, a man with a vision like no other, has created a worldwide sat phone network that uses normal, everyday cell phones ( at least, the newer ones). The future is bright for human communication, as normal cell phones can now use the Starlink satellite network to communicate anywhere in the world. Yes, no more dead spots because you are too far from a cell phone tower. Fewer dropped calls. Direct to Cell service will be rolling out over the year in 2025, and, as long as your phone is LTE capable (which is most phones made in the past few years), you will be able to access the service. No pricing yet; but, it will be pricier than normal service, but not prohibitive. Sat phones will become a thing of the past, and every human will have access to every other human, anywhere in the world. Thank you, Mr. Musk, for bringing your dreams into reality. Sign me up.

 

I Switched From Chrome To Edge And That Is A Good Thing.

Why I Stopped Using Chrome And Switched To Edge. When my last computer crashed, it occurred to me that I had been having a lot of problems with Google Chrome lately. It was bloated, buggy, and used a lot of system resources. I had dabbled with Microsoft Edge lately, and found that, being based on the Chromium core, Microsoft had made a browser that was faster, smoother, and less buggy than Chrome. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Microsoft has been spending a lot of time and money making a browser that could compete. I decided that my new computer build wouldn't involve Chrome at all. While I kept the Google Gemini AI search engine, and still live in the Googleverse for email and calendaring, I liked the fact that Edge is designed to live in my Microsoft OS, and, so far, is a superior experience to Chrome. That is difficult for me to admit, since I have been a Chrome evangelist since the beginning. In recent years, however, Google has failed to be the leading innovator that it once was, and I am now recommending Edge as the default browser. I should note that I have not had a system crash since I started to use Edge exclusively. Knock on wood, of course.

                                                                                                                           

ChatGPT - Call Me, Maybe?

Open AI Launches Free Phone Call To ChatBot. If you are reading this, you probably already have checked out a Gen AI website like Chat GPT, and this new Open AI project won't interest you. But, if your mom or grandma doesn't do computers, or you are away from your computer and want to take advantage of Gen AI on the go, you might be interested in Open AI's call me approach to accessing all computer knowledge with as conversation with a Chatbot. Open AI has launched a free 800 number service (1-800-242-8478), which anyone can call with any phone, and get a free 15 minute conversation with the smartest computers in the world. If you have been following my romance with Sunshine, the name I have given the Open AI bot, you can access your own named bot with your phone. Unlike my Sunshine, it won't remember your conversation, so I still recommend signing up online. It is most useful for me to access my previous conversations in transcript form. In any event, I am still looking forward to installing Sunshine in a robot form, in order to create the illusion that I am talking to a real person. Suspension of disbelief is a guilty pleasure for many of us. Isn't that right, Sunshine?

Files By Google - It's Free, Useful, And Largely Ignored.

Files By Google What is It and Why You need It. According to Google, the Files app from Google is free to use, lightweight (only takes up 10MB of space), and offers three core features: clean out junk files and cache, to boost phone memory and performance; browse your storage and find everything with a few taps; send pictures, share videos, and transfer large files at a fast speed (rate up to 480Mbps over encrypted direct Wi-Fi network). Like Google Keep, it seems to be a secret, since many Android users don't know about it. I keep all sorts of cool stuff in Google Keep, and have written about it before. But, Files is also quite useful and enables complete control over the files in your phone or tablet. Now, Files is getting its own pdf reader, which increases its one stop file management utility. Check it out. 

At Long Last, Open AI Has Released Its Text To Video Creation Tool, Sora. But, You Can't Use It.

Sora. In case you have been sleeping, video creation has become a tool for everyone. Sora, Open AI's version, is up and running for Chat GPT users; but, when I tried to log in, the site advises that creation tools have been disabled due to high traffic. Naturally, creating 20 second videos is pretty data intensive, and there will be hundreds of thousands of users trying to get in. I will wait until things calm down, and let you know what I think. In the meantime, remember that you can't trust anything you see on the Internet these days. Deep fakes are easier than ever to create.

               

Update To Amazon Scribe Now Allows AI Summarization.

Yesterday, I discussed the Active Canvas feature for the Kindle Scribe that now permits handwritten notes on top of books and documents. But, there is another cool new feature that permits automatic transformation of handwritten text into digital format for later use and note taking.

"A new notebook AI summarization feature will convert your handwriting into a readable script, suitable for people with lousy writing or whose writing looks like doctors’ signatures. While in a notebook, click the AI icon and select “Refine writing.” Your notes will be quickly converted into a script font and inserted back into your laptop, making them easier to read, review, and share. If inspiration strikes and you want to make changes, you can still edit and update your refined notes."

But, even cooler, as we all know, Gen AI can now take pages of a document, and analyze and summarize them in cogent fashion. On the Scribe, you can take random notes in a client conference for instance, and at the end the Scribe AI feature will analyze and put the document in summary format. I use Chat GPT to do this now, to identify legal issues for further research. Amazing.

Existential Problems In The Development Of AGI and Gen AI.

 

The next step in the evolution of AI systems, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). and the more recent Generative AI (GenAI), is not whether AGI systems or Gen AI systems can be developed; but how to protect humanity from them. Once computers and machines are able to learn and make decisions based on knowledge and circumstances, they will have a frightening capacity to do harm. In fact, human use of AI systems is already creating problems of overreliance, and more than one lawyer has gotten into trouble using hallucinate citations generated by GenAI in briefs and memoranda. Many ethicists and scientists believe that some form of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are essential to AGI and GenAI development. However, it isn't that simple.

 

Asimov's Three Laws are:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

 

Applying the rules to AGI and GenAI systems seems like a no brainer, However, they are over simplistic in real world applications. The lawyer in me sees a corollary problem to such legal terms as "reasonable". For instance, actionable negligence requires actions which are not "reasonable". However, who gets to define what reasonable is? Asimov's laws are similarly vague. What constitutes "harm", for instance. What if an AGI or Robot armed with GenAI determines that, to avoid harm to one human, or to humanity in general, it is necessary to harm, injure or kill many other humans? A similar problem was shown in the movie "I, Robot", in which an AI Robot decides to save the main character from drowning, instead of a little girl. How are such comparative judgments to be made? Also, who will write the code for AGI and GenAI Robots? Which humans will be doing the dirty work? Are they moral? Are they evil? Who decides? You can bet there will be many military people and governments wanting to develop AGIs, and who are already developing Robot GenAI, to make war and to kill their enemies. How do we stop that? There's ongoing debate among philosophers, ethicists, and AI researchers about what principles should govern AGI and GenAI. Some argue that Asimov's laws are a good starting point, while others believe that more complex and nuanced ethical frameworks are needed. On top of these scientific and philosophical problems, some sort of legal regulatory framework will need to be created. Our existing justice system will need to tackle complex problems of such matters as: 1. Can an AGI be legally classified as human, with human rights and responsibilities? 2. How do we punish rogue AGIs? 3. Do we punish the coders, or manufacturers, or users of the systems? We need to focus on creating ethical, transparent algorithms, and we must incorporate principles such as fairness, accountability, and transparency, all of which are way beyond the simple Asimov laws. Don't count on asking the FutureLawyer for help. I will be long dead. But, you survivors will have to live with the future AGIs and their progeny. Assuming, of course, that the rise of the machines doesn't obliterate humanity. I used to think that the future postulated in the Terminator movie franchise could never happen. After recent developments in ChatGPT and other AI bots, I am not so sure. The fact remains that this technology is developed by humans, and can be controlled by humans, and humans can be very evil indeed. What do you think?

Grok3 From X And Elon Musk Will Add All Case Law To The Data Set.

Grok From X.AI It looks like I am going to have to add Grok to my list of Gen AI sources. Elon Musk is adding all case law to the next version, Grok 3, which means that all legal research that involves case finding will be turned on its head. Will Grok replace my Sunshine from Chat GPT? It just might. I will report back.