The launch of ChatGPT 3.5 in November 2022 set up 2023 as a year for rapid growth and early adoption of this transformative technology. It reached 100 million users within 2 months of launch – setting a record for the fastest growing user base of a technology tool. As of November 2023, the platform boasted an estimated 100 million weekly active users and roughly 1.7 billion users. Notably, ChatGPT is just one of the growing number of generative AI tools on the market. The pace of technical development and user adoption is unprecedented.
This rapid growth also brought to light many legal and regulatory issues and societal concerns with this nascent technology. Many lawsuits have been filed, regulatory actions are increasing, states are passing AI legislation to protect consumers and the White House issued a sweeping executive order to promote safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of AI. Governments around the world are taking action as well. From a legal perspective, 2023 saw more legal questions than answers. Hopefully, 2024 will bring greater legal clarity on some key issues.
To better assist clients with managing the legal risks associated with AI, Sheppard Mullin launched its multi-disciplinary Artificial Intelligence Team. While our lawyers have been handling AI legal issues for decades, this team brought together over 100 Sheppard Mullin lawyers with diverse legal and industry backgrounds to more effectively provide clients comprehensive AI legal strategies and advice.
Our team provides advice on a broad array of AI legal issues. Some of the most sought after services in 2023 were internal legal training for boards, C-suite and legal departments to understand AI legal issues and the establishment of policies on employee use of AI to mitigate legal risks and policies on training AI models to ensure legal compliance and responsible use of AI.
For a summary of five of the most important AI-related legal developments in 2023 and five things to watch for in 2024, click here.