Category Archives: Law & Technology

Autonomous Vehicles and Insurance Law Principles

Insurance Law, Law & Technology

The advent of autonomous vehicles (‘AVs’) will disruptively transform the motor insurance sector. Traditional motor insurance in Singapore rests on the public policy of ensuring adequate coverage for all victims in road accidents. With AVs challenging the orthodox foundations of motor insurance, however, existing insurance doctrines will have to evolve to grapple with unfamiliar risks. We examine this in our article ‘Autonomous Vehicles and Insurance Law Principles: Navigating New Frontiers in Singapore’ published in the Singapore Academy of Law Journal.

The Nature of Property in Cryptoassets

Law & Technology, Property Law

While cryptoassets have generally been accepted as a form of property in Commonwealth jurisdictions, it remains unclear how specific property rules apply. What is required for title to a cryptoasset to be legally transferred? Is a blockchain transaction necessary or sufficient for that purpose? If a transaction is unauthorised or procured by fraud, when (if ever) do subsequent purchasers take free of the original owner’s title? These questions are relevant, for example, to proprietary disputes in crypto litigation and the structuring of secured crypto-finance arrangements.

Good Models Borrow, Great Models Steal: Intellectual Property Rights and Generative AI

Intellectual Property, Law & Technology

Two critical policy questions will determine the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the knowledge economy and the creative sector. The first concerns how we think about the training of such models — in particular, whether the creators or owners of the data that are ‘scraped’ (lawfully or unlawfully, with or without permission) should be compensated for that use.

The Tragedy of AI Governance

Competition Law, International Law, Law & Technology

Despite hundreds of guides, frameworks, and principles intended to make artificial intelligence (AI) ‘ethical’ or ‘responsible’, ever more powerful applications continue to be released ever more quickly. Safety and security teams are being downsized or sidelined to bring AI products to market. And a significant portion of AI developers apparently believe there is a real risk that their work poses an existential threat to humanity.

Law by Algorithm

Commercial Law, Law & Technology, Private Law

My review article in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies offers a critical analysis of Horst Eidenmüller and Gerhard Wagner’s Law by Algorithm by focusing on four major sets of issues that are covered in this important work: (i) separate legal personality for artificial intelligence (AI) systems; (ii) the exploitation and protection of consumers; (iii) liability; and (iv) online dispute resolution.

The Metaverse beyond the internet

Law & Technology

Our paper, The Metaverse beyond the Internet, (2023) Law, Innovation and Technology, discusses some of the issues and policy choices the law will have to grapple with in the more immersive emerging Metaverse that will lead to the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space. Many potential new problems will emerge while some existing issues will be exacerbated. This blogpost outlines three of the issues discussed in the paper.