AI & Law: Legally Defining AI

Lance Eliot
12 min readDec 9, 2020
Considering various attempts at legally defining AI

by Dr. Lance B. Eliot

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Key briefing points about this article:

  • Definitions are the lifeblood of the law and inextricably the practice of law too
  • Many a court case has hinged precariously on the definition of this word or that phrase
  • Meanwhile, consider that AI is gradually and inexorably coming into the field of law
  • And yet there is ample ambiguity about what “AI” entails and definitions of AI are aplenty
  • This gives rise to examining a definition of AI as codified into the National Defense Act

Introduction

Any budding attorney learns pretty quickly that definitions can make or break your day. Whether examining a recently passed piece of legislation or perhaps giving a contract some close inspection, the importance of definitions arises with near certainty. Is the terminology well-specified or is it sloppy and proffers numerous loopholes? Are the crucial words and phrases carefully defined or are they used with abandon and seem vacuous?

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Lance Eliot

Dr. Lance B. Eliot is a renowned global expert on AI, successful startup founder, global CIO/CTO, , was a top exec at a major Venture Capital (VC) firm.