PODCAST: Mitigating Catastrophic AI Risk

tlconlineeditor

Summary:

On this episode of the Touro Law Review Podcast, Touro Law Professors Peter
Zablotsky and Gabriel Weil, engage in a discussion about artificial intelligence and how this technology poses potential risks. As AI becomes more prevalent and its technical capabilities extend further beyond its current capacity, there is both a danger for misuse and for AI system failures. Professor Weil addresses how AI risk poses a problem for law and policy and further raises the argument that tort law is the best way to govern AI risk.

Professor Weil further investigates potential AI liability under a negligence scheme, what precautionary measures can be taken, and whether this type of technology use can be categorized as abnormally dangerous which would require a lens of strict liability. Furthermore, Professor Zablotksy and Professor Weil contemplate the effectiveness of potential legislation and how judges may struggle to understand AI and its technical operations when applying the law. Professor Weil’s recent paper, “Tort Law as a Tool for Mitigating Catastrophic Risk from Artificial Intelligence,” will be of interest to anyone listening.

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review

Learn more about Professor Weil and Professor Zablotsky

Professor Gabriel Weil:

Gabriel Weil joined the faculty at Touro Law in 2022. He teaches torts, law and artificial intelligence, and various courses relating to environmental law and climate change. Professor Weil’s primary scholarly interests are in climate change law and policy, and the governance of artificial intelligence. His climate scholarship emphasizes on tools and strategies for managing the poor fit between existing legal and political institutions and the challenge of tackling climate change. Professor Weil’s research has addressed geoengineering governance, tools for overcoming the global commons problem, and the optimal role for subnational policy in tackling a global problem, among other topics. His scholarship has also branched out to related topics, including the role that tort law can play in mitigating catastrophic risks from artificial intelligence, how individual preferences should be considered in evaluating regulatory policies, and the failure of the Learned Hand formula for negligence liability to adequately deter the generation of risk externalities.

Prior to joining Touro, Professor Weil served as a visiting professor at the University of Wyoming College of Law and a research and manager at the Climate Leadership Council. He previously served as a research fellow at UC Irvine School of Law’s Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources, and worked at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Georgetown Climate Center, and the American Association of State Highway andTransportation Officials. 


Professor Weil holds a J.D., cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, an LL.M. in environmental law, summa cum laude, from Pace University Elizabeth Haub School of Law, and a B.A. in political science, physics, and integrated science from Northwestern University.

Please click on the following links for more of Professor Weil’s relevant AI publications:

  1. Tort Law Can Play an Important Role in Mitigating AI Risk
  2. Your AI Breaks It? You Buy It.
  3. The Limits of Liability
  4. Tort Law Should Be the Centerpiece of AI Governance
  5. The Pros and Cons of California’s Proposed SB-1047 AI Safety Law
  6. How Technical AI Safety Researchers Can Help Implement Punitive Damages to Mitigate Catastrophic AI Risk
  7. Podcast: Suing Labs for AI Risk with Gabriel Weil

Professor Peter Zablotsky:
Professor Peter Zablotsky is admitted to the bars of New York, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Professor Zablotsky graduated summa cum laude from the Pennsylvania State University. He then earned his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a Charles Evans Hughs Human Rights Fellow. He practiced privately in the areas of labor law, entertainment law, torts, and products liability law, before entering full-time teaching to serve as coordinator of the Legal Writing and Research Program at New York Law School. He subsequently joined the Touro Law School faculty, where he has been teaching since 1986. He has published in the areas of products liability, torts, civil rights, criminal procedure, and domestic relations. Several of Professor Zablotsky’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway.
Click here to review Professor Zablotsky’s published work.