Nine great industry news stories from this week you may have missed.
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Lockdown accelerates push into digital workflows for professional services
China and Singapore are leading the way by adopting digital workflows in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown, combined with urgent business requirements following the coronavirus outbreak, led Chinese regulators to relax requirements for processes such as opening a bank account. Now, facial recognition, biometric technology and eSignatures are allowing business to resume transactions which traditionally required in-person appointments and paper signatures. Learn how digital workflows are helping industries from finance to the courts in the Financial Times' recent article.
Our weird behaviour during the pandemic is messing with AI models
Searches for cell phone cases, snacks and batteries have been replaced with toilet paper, hand sanitizer and N95 masks. When COVID-19 hit, buyers started shopping for things they'd never purchased before. The shift was sudden. It took less than one week at the end of February for the top 10 Amazon search terms in multiple countries to fill up with products related to the pandemic. Now, MIT Technology Review has reported the lasting affects these changes have had on the algorithms that run behind the scenes in inventory management, fraud detection, marketing and more. What can we take away from this? The fact of how intertwined our lives are with AI. Click here to read the full story.
The New Normal — law firms may never be the same
The legal industry, which has always been known as being slow to embrace change, has been shifting its operations. The combination of pre and post-COVID-19 changes has created the unique environment required to push the legal industry, and law firms in particular, forward. Learn what's expected to come for the integration of business practices, the advancement of work-from-home arrangements and improvement of technology here.
Hackers hit A-list law firm of Lady Gaga, Drake and Madonna
A law firm used by A-list stars including Rod Stewart, Drake and Robert De Niro has been hacked. According to BBC, hackers claim to have 756 gigabytes of data including contracts and personal emails from Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, which is based out of New York. To prove the hackers are holding the sensitive contracts and non-disclosure agreements of hundreds of stars, a screenshot of a Madonna contract has been released and the criminals are demanding payment. Read all the details here.
Don’t get cocky: firms may not be prepared for long-term remote work
Many lawyers and their staffers have settled into a routine of working remotely. While the transition to working from home may seem successful in the interim, the legal industry's sudden shift to remote work hasn't considered the data governance and tech considerations that are needed for a more permanent, long-term switch to telecommuting. A recent Law.com articles warns those in the legal industry to consider the importance of maintaining cybersecurity when working to meet clients' demands from home.
Clearview AI to stop selling controversial facial recognition app to private companies
Earlier this year, a leaked client list indicated that controversial facial recognition provider, Clearview AI, had been used by thousands of organizations including Bank of America, Macy’s and Walmart. Now, the provider says it will no longer sell its app to private companies and non-law enforcement entities. It will also be terminating all contracts, regardless of whether the contracts are for law enforcement purposes or not, in the state of Illinois. Read the full story here.
You’re working in the cloud whether you know it or not
Being “in the cloud” simply means any applications where the operating software and/or data it generates is stored on somebody else’s server (rather than stored locally on the user’s own hard drives) and is accessed through the internet. Despite the many benefits of this technology, when surveyed, lawyers as a group seem reluctant about cloud-based computing largely because of their fears around data integrity and security. While, by definition, there is a loss of control of the data when it is stored on somebody else’s servers, the irony is that cloud-based servers have proven more secure and safe than desktop hard drives and other local data storage systems. Read Canadian Lawyer's recent article to learn more.
Why Gen Z preferences should matter to law firms
As a new generation of lawyers enter the workforce, they bring new ideas, perspectives and ways of working that are bound to influence how law will be practiced in the future. Gen Z practitioners will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the profession. Why? For one thing, this generation is proportionally large: Gen Zers will soon comprise one-third of the world’s population, and they already make up more than a quarter of the US population. This week Law Technology Today wrote a piece on what's to be expected with the next generation of legal industry professionals including a fresh perspective on their careers and a need for more technology.
From deepfakes to facial capture: how Artificial Intelligence is already changing Hollywood
Decades from now, an AI algorithm will make your movie from the text of the script. While we're not there yet, artificial intelligence is working hard behind the scenes on many Hollywood productions. Learn how this smart technology is taking care of everything from operations and editing to visual effects and analytics here.
