The Council of Bars & Law Societies of Europe has recently published a paper discussing some legal aspects of artificial intelligence. The paper first addresses the relationship between artificial intelligence and human rights (especially the right to a fair trial, the right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of assembly and association, the right to life in the context of smart weapons and algorithmically operated drones, the right to privacy and data protection). Secondly, use of AI by Courts and its criticalities are addressed, particularly non-delegation of the judge's decision-making power, possibility to verify data input and compliance with GDPR. Finally, liability issues and the impact of AI on legal practice are discussed.

Since the first version of this white paper in 2016, the range and impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has expanded at a dizzying pace as the area continues to capture an ever greater share of the business and popular imaginations. Along with the cloud, AI is emerging as the key driver of the'fourth industrial revolution', the term (after steam, electricity and computing) coined by Davos founder Klaus Schwab for the deep digital transformation now under way. This white paper is written from the perspective of the in-house lawyer working on the legal aspects of their organisation's adoption and use of AI. "artificial intelligence is that activity devoted to making machines intelligent, and intelligence is that quality that enables an entity to function appropriately and with foresight in its environment".4 "interdisciplinary field ... dealing with models and systems for the performance of functions generally associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning and learning." Most recently, in its January 2018 book, 'The Future: Computed', Microsoft thinks of AI as: "a set of technologies that enable computers to perceive, learn, reason and assist in decision- making to solve problems in ways that are similar to what people do."7

Writing in the Economist newspaper on 8 October 2016, US President Barack Obama called out artificial intelligence (AI) as one of several areas where'in recent years we have seen incredible technological advances'.2 Long a backroom area of computer science, AI has captured the popular imagination over the last two years as the range and impact of practical AI applications have expanded at a dizzying pace: a quick search on ft.com for'artificial intelligence and robotics' returned 4 stories from September and October 2014, 16 for the same period in 2015 and 54 in 2016. AI is one of several areas of digital innovation that are all both developing increasingly rapidly and interacting with each other in ways whose consequences are challenging to foresee. A useful portmanteau for these changes is the'fourth industrial revolution'. After steam, electricity and computing, this is the term coined3 by Davos founder Klaus Schwab for the deep digital transformation now upon us.