While government bodies have been reluctant to regulate AI too early on its development through fear of stifling innovation, it seems there has been a recent collective effort to understand and define AI’s seat at the table in the corporate world.
With the EU AI Act now passed, and government manifestos citing plans to crackdown on AI and big tech, more and more legislation is on the horizon and businesses are going to need reliable legal minds to navigate the new landscape.
Increasingly, organisations will feel the need for an AI legal expert to be in the room, but just as the technology is still evolving, so too does the checklist for the perfect AI lawyer; the problem? They don’t yet exist. So, what should HR be on the lookout for when hiring?
The crux of the issue
The main difference between AI and legacy technology is that AI is not being developed for a specific use, but businesses are buying AI solutions and then working out how they can be used and for what purpose. In this way, the parameters of, and therefore the rules applying to, AI will be different for every sector, business and working department.
A lesson learnt
The role of the AI in-house lawyer is still evolving – HR departments have a balance to strike in ensuring the right support is there, but guessing what kind of legal, professional, and academic background that might look like. Indeed, many organisations will have learnt some lessons from the introduction of the GDPR.
At the first introduction of GDPR, many businesses had not sufficiently prepared, neglecting to carve out a role for a specialist to ensure that the business was successfully complying with the new rules. In many cases, the job was left to whoever put their hand up, which may have been relatively junior lawyers. It’s safe to say that such a business-critical area where there is risk at stake needs suitable oversight, which many businesses realised only too late in the case of GDPR.
Where to find the perfect candidate
So, how can HR departments ensure they are future-proofing their businesses as the prevalence of AI grows? The first obvious solution may be to recruit lawyers from the tech sector; after all, there have been mass layoffs over the past couple of years. However, those that choose this route may come unstuck if they are looking for a lawyer to hit the ground running – AI governance and regulation will go far beyond the remit of transactional tech lawyers.
In reality, the most precious knowledge for a candidate to have is a strong understanding and background in technology beyond the transactional, which will give a candidate a more specialised grounding in AI specific legal understanding. Perhaps the ideal candidate is in fact an individual with a background in computer science, who has since qualified as a lawyer. This way, legal minds can quickly apply legislative analysis to areas they are already experts in.
This all depends, of course, on how the business plans to use AI. With wider use, the considerations for appropriate knowledge grow, too. In many cases, it may also be important for a lawyer to have litigation, IP and data privacy experience to ensure that all bases are covered. As the technology itself is still evolving, who knows how businesses may be using it in five years’ time?
So, the answer is that HR departments simply can’t hire something that doesn’t already exist, but they should be proactive in trying to. While this may sound like mission impossible, the first place to start is to consider how the individual business is likely to be using AI, then think about the relevant expertise that will help a candidate to develop into that perfect AI lawyer. A leap of faith, perhaps, but HR departments will have to keep their finger on the pulse and ensure that any candidate has the right tools and understanding to take on the job.
