UnCommon Law

Latest Episodes:

NEW SERIES TRAILER: The Rise and Fall of Agency Power Feb 24, 2025

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This season on UnCommon Law, join us as we explore the rise and fall of agency power, and what that could mean for the future of regulation in America.

BONUS: How Quinn Emanuel Lawyers Save 50 Billable Hours With One Click Nov 21, 2024

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Generative AI has promised to reshape the practice of law ever since ChatGPT emerged. However, it's been unclear just how large law firms are using AI. Has it changed how practitioners do their jobs on a daily basis? Are we witnessing the emergence of a revolution in how lawyers do their work?

Uncommon Law's Matthew Schwartz sits in as guest host on this episode of On the Merits. He talks with John Quinn, founder and chair of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, as they discuss his firm's stance on artificial intelligence and the future of the billable hour.

6. From Errors to Efficiency: Can AI Transform the Practice of Law? Oct 31, 2024

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In the season finale of UnCommon Law, we explore the power of AI to transform legal practice. Featuring insights from top law professors, a federal judge, and industry leaders like John Quinn, founder of Quinn Emanuel, we ask: Can AI’s promise of efficiency overcome its risks—and redefine the future of law?

Guests:

John Quinn, founder of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
Daniel Ho, professor of law and computer science at Stanford University
David Hoffman, professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Isabel Gottlieb, reporter for Bloomberg Law covering AI and issues impacting corporate legal departments

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Host/Producer: Matthew S. Schwartz

Editor/Executive Producer: Josh Block

Additional Editing: Andrew Satter

Cover Art: Jonathan Hurtarte

5. AI Dilemma: Can US Legislators Take Action Before It's Too Late? Sep 18, 2024

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Deepfakes. Disinformation. Algorithmic bias. Job displacement. These are just some of the harms legislators and regulators worry about when they think about how to tackle the risks posed by artificial intelligence.

The first episodes of this season of UnCommon Law deal with generative AI in the copyright law context, since the technology uses massive amounts of copyright protected work. But while copyright law might be the beginning, there's so much more to the story of generative AI and the law.

In this episode, we examine what the government might do to ensure that 21st century life doesn't turn into a dystopian future.

Guests:

Cary Coglianese, director of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Oma Seddiq, tech policy reporter for Bloomberg Government
Isabel Gottlieb, reporter for Bloomberg Law covering AI and issues impacting corporate legal departments

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Host/Producer: Matthew S. Schwartz

Editor/Executive Producer: Josh Block

Additional Editing: Andrew Satter

Cover Art: Jonathan Hurtarte

4. Artists Argue AI Art Illegally Steals Work and Threatens Careers Jul 24, 2024

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The US copyright system encourages human creativity. So does it make sense to grant a copyright to work created by AI with the click of a button? And, if AI generated artwork is given copyright protection, how would that impact the livelihoods of creative professionals?

In our last episode, we looked at Jason Allen’s AI-generated artwork, "Théatre D’opéra Spatial," and the arguments why it should have some copyright protection. This time, we examine the other side – the most powerful arguments for why AI-generated work should never be eligible for copyright.

Guests:

Jason M. Allen, founder of Art Incarnate
Sy Damle, partner in the copyright litigation group at Latham & Watkins
Karla Ortiz, artist
Kelly McKernan, artist
Delanie West, advocacy liaison for the Graphic Artists Guild
Genel Jumalon, artist

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Host/Producer: Matthew S. Schwartz

Editor/Executive Producer: Josh Block

Additional Editing: Andrew Satter

Cover Art: Jonathan Hurtarte

3. You Can Create Award-Winning Art With AI. But Can You Copyright It? Jun 05, 2024

Show notes

The art world was rattled when Jason M. Allen won first place in the Colorado State Fair for "Théatre D’opéra Spatial" — digital artwork created with artificial intelligence.

Allen had revised his text prompts hundreds of times before landing on the final work; Allen considers Space Opera Theater his creation. But some artists hated his victory. "They were saying I was falsely attributing authorship to something I did not create," Allen said.

After winning, he submitted the image to the US Copyright Office for a state-issued seal of approval, an official document certifying that the artwork was indeed his creation. Would the Copyright Office agree?

We delved into the controversy surrounding the use of copyrighted material in training AI systems in our first two episodes of this season. Now we shift our focus to the output. Who owns artwork created using artificial intelligence? Should our legal system redefine what constitutes authorship? Or, as AI promises to redefine how we create, will the government cling to historical notions of authorship?

Guests:

Jason M. Allen, founder of Art Incarnate
Sy Damle, partner in the copyright litigation group at Latham & Watkins
Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights and director of the US Copyright Office

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Host/Producer: Matthew S. Schwartz

Editor/Executive Producer: Josh Block

Additional Editing: Andrew Satter

Cover Art: Jonathan Hurtarte

2. AI Trained on Famous Authors’ Copyrighted Work. They Want Revenge – Part 2 Mar 27, 2024

Show notes

Generative AI tools are already promising to change the world. Systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT can answer complex questions, write poems and code, and even mimic famous authors with uncanny accuracy. But in using copyrighted materials to train these powerful AI products, are AI companies infringing the rights of untold creators?

This season on UnCommon Law, we'll explore the intersection between artificial intelligence and the law. On episode one, we learned about the lawsuits filed against AI companies that trained their large language models on copyrighted work without permission. Now we'll learn about the legal defense that could give the AI companies a pass to continue scraping up whatever content they want, copyright-protected or not.

Guests:

Matthew Butterick, founder at Butterick Law, and co-counsel with the Joseph Saveri Law Firm on class-action lawsuits against OpenAI and others
Isaiah Poritz, technology reporter for Bloomberg Law
Matthew Sag, professor of law and artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science at Emory University School of Law
Mark Lemley, professor of law at Stanford Law School and the director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology, who is also representing Meta and Stability AI in the copyright cases against them
James Grimmelmann, professor of digital and information law at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School

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Host/Producer: Matthew S. Schwartz

Editor/Executive Producer: Josh Block

Additional Editing: Andrew Satter

Cover Art: Jonathan Hurtarte

1. AI Trained on Famous Authors’ Copyrighted Work. They Want Revenge – Part 1 Mar 27, 2024

Show notes

This season on UnCommon Law, we'll explore the intersection between artificial intelligence and the law. Episode one examines how large language models actually ingest and learn from billions of online data points, including copyrighted works. And we explore the lawsuits filed by creators who claim their copyrights were exploited without permission to feed the data-hungry algorithms powering tools like ChatGPT.

Guests:

Matthew Butterick, founder at Butterick Law, and co-counsel with the Joseph Saveri Law Firm on class-action lawsuits against OpenAI and others
Isaiah Poritz, technology reporter for Bloomberg Law
James Grimmelmann, professor of digital and information law at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School

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Host/Producer: Matthew S. Schwartz

Editor/Executive Producer: Josh Block

Additional Editing: Andrew Satter

Cover Art: Jonathan Hurtarte

Can a Haunted House Go Too Far? 'Carrie' Scare Leads to Lawsuit Oct 19, 2023

Show notes

When Scott Griffin visited the Haunted Trail, he expected to be scared. But he did not expect what happened after he thought the scare was over.

This special Halloween episode of UnCommon Law tells the true story of a man terrorized by a haunted house attraction. Griffin bought a ticket to a haunted house — but ended up getting more than he bargained for: two broken wrists. He sued for negligence and assault. Can someone who paid to be frightened sue when things go too far?

Guests:

P. Christopher Ardalan, attorney at Ardalan & Associates, PLC
Larry Levine, law professor at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law

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Host/Producer: Matthew S. Schwartz

Editor/Executive Producer: Josh Block

Cover Art: Jonathan Hurtarte

5. If Lina Khan's FTC Bans Noncompete Clauses, What Happens Next? Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

In the conclusion of UnCommon Law's season-long exploration of noncompete agreements, we look at the Federal Trade Commission's authority to ban the clauses nationwide.

We’ve reviewed how the ban would work and explored the policy arguments for and against it. Now we delve into a more fundamental question: Does the FTC even have the power to make a substantive rule like this one?

It's been 50 years since the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FTC has substantive rulemaking power. We’ll learn about that case — National Petroleum Refiners Association v. FTC — we’ll find out why it’s so important to the FTC, and we’ll hear why many believe it would not turn out the same way today.

But that's not all! Even if courts follow National Petroleum, could the FTC get past the major questions doctrine?

The season finale of UnCommon Law features: