The first AI, Law and Business Congress organised by Lefebvre, a software and legal content company specialising in the legal sector, brought together dozens of top AI experts, lawyers from leading firms and legal professionals from the business sector at a single event in collaboration with PONS IP and several other leading Spanish legal firms. The aim of this one-day event was to explore all the possibilities provided by new technologies to legal firms and consultancies, as well as legaltech companies.

In this regard, all the work sessions highlighted the fact that Artificial Intelligence has had a strong impact in every area of society and has shown itself to be a great competitive advantage in the legal and business spheres. However, it is essential to know how to implement it within the framework forming the complex balance between innovation opportunity to improve business activity, upholding fundamental rights and the responsibility of the legislator to manage this technological disruption. Within this context there is one piece of data that shows the extent to which AI has impacted the volume of legislation. At the end of 2023, there were already 25 regulations relating to AI issues in the US, compared to only one in 2016. Just last year, the total number of AI-related regulations grew by 56.3%.

Under this premise, tickets for in-person attendance sold out with over 300 participants filling all the seats of the Banco Santander auditorium, which was the official venue for the Congress. To add to this, almost 500 professionals attended online, making this first edition of the event a complete success. The central theme of the event meant that all the participants discovered the keys to integrating AI-based tools in their day-to-day strategies and work, thereby optimising their results and gaining competitive advantages.

As partner in the Congress, PONS IP played an active role during the event with the participation of José Carlos Erdozain, Of counsel at PONS IP and privacy and intellectual property legal expert, in a seminar shared with renowned professional experts such as Rodrigo González, Digital Law partner at Deloitte Legal; and Marcos Judel, president of the Spanish Professional Association of Privacy. The three legal professionals answered several of the main questions that legal firms and consultancies commonly have at first about AI and its application in firms and companies.

From an industrial property point of view, it is important to find out who has sovereignty and who should be granted ownership over AI creations. While it is true that AI learning is very relevant, in addition to the content used to do so, it is also important to highlight how this technology must be handled. Humans teach it, but the final result is a “machine”. Would it be right to humanise it at a legal level? It is the opinion of José Carlos Erdozain, Of counsel at PONS IP, that in the absence of incentives, need and intelligence itself, “AI as we know it today is nothing more than very sophisticated software that is programmed to provide possible and most probable answers, but reactively, without inherent or personal motivation. Therefore, artistic creativity as we understand it does not align with the type of artistic creation or invention by an AI. The former requires artistic inspiration, spirit or desire, while the latter is a result optimised by comparison with countless data, such as big data. The conclusion is that the author and/or inventor can only be a human being”, Erdozain concluded.

In relation to privacy, the PONS IP legal expert noted the importance of making the data processing performed by AI more transparent “to ensure the right to privacy, and data protection” throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems, especially in relation to data and biometric identification.

Lastly, José Carlos Erdozain called for the legislator to take on a “more proactive” role beyond models that defend full self-regulation “because it is true that the potential of AI affects a wide variety of areas and delve into fundamental rights such as privacy, freedom of movement, and freedom of opinion, among many others. In addition, we must face the challenge of humanising AI, always using the fundamental ethical principles that are the foundation of economic well-being and equal opportunities in society”.