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Predictive Analytics
Beyond ‘Managerial Judges’: Appropriate Roles in Settlement
September 25, 2017
Settlement is prevalent, and crucial to the functioning of the U.S. judicial system. But the pretrial regulatory framework in the courts is largely discretionary, and its emphasis on management does not fully take into account all the consequences of combining settlement with adjudication. The label “managerial judge” does not differentiate between the functions involved in managing a settlement process and the very different role of serving as a settlement neutral. By introducing this distinction,...
September 25, 2017
Settlement is prevalent, and crucial to the functioning of the U.S. judicial system. But the pretrial regulatory framework in the courts is largely discretionary, and its emphasis on management does not fully take into account all the consequences of combining settlement with adjudication. The label “managerial judge” does not differentiate between the functions involved in managing a settlement process and the very different role of serving as a settlement neutral. By introducing this distinction,...
Misconceptions About Nudges
September 19, 2017
Some people believe that nudges are an insult to human agency; that nudges are based on excessive trust in government; that nudges are covert; that nudges are manipulative; that nudges exploit behavioral biases; that nudges depend on a belief that human beings are irrational; and that nudges work only at the margins and cannot accomplish much. These are misconceptions. Nudges always respect, and often promote, human agency; because nudges insist on preserving freedom of choice, they do not put excessive...
September 19, 2017
Some people believe that nudges are an insult to human agency; that nudges are based on excessive trust in government; that nudges are covert; that nudges are manipulative; that nudges exploit behavioral biases; that nudges depend on a belief that human beings are irrational; and that nudges work only at the margins and cannot accomplish much. These are misconceptions. Nudges always respect, and often promote, human agency; because nudges insist on preserving freedom of choice, they do not put excessive...
How Artificial Intelligence Could Negotiate Better Deals for Humans
September 14, 2017
You may know the art of the deal, but there’s a science to it, too. And artificial intelligence is beginning to learn...
September 14, 2017
You may know the art of the deal, but there’s a science to it, too. And artificial intelligence is beginning to learn...
IBM Invests $240M in MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab
September 11, 2017
Most in the local tech field believe that Boston is poised to be a leading player in a new generation of companies built around artificial intelligence. That theory got a major vote of confidence on Thursday when International Business Machines Corp. announced a 10-year plan to fund cutting-edge AI research at MIT. The $240 million investment will create the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, which will "carry out fundamental artificial intelligence research and seek to propel scientific breakthroughs...
September 11, 2017
Most in the local tech field believe that Boston is poised to be a leading player in a new generation of companies built around artificial intelligence. That theory got a major vote of confidence on Thursday when International Business Machines Corp. announced a 10-year plan to fund cutting-edge AI research at MIT. The $240 million investment will create the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, which will "carry out fundamental artificial intelligence research and seek to propel scientific breakthroughs...
Irma Shifting Forecasts: It’s All a Matter of Probability
September 10, 2017
Many people trying to use forecasts like those provided by the National Hurricane Center, however, do not fully understand the cone of probability and focus instead on the line that runs down the middle, taking it as an accurate prediction of the storm’s path. J. Marshall Shepherd, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Georgia, explained the fallacy in a Facebook post. “Anywhere in that cone is a possibility,” Dr. Shepherd wrote, “and it has always been a challenge communicating...
September 10, 2017
Many people trying to use forecasts like those provided by the National Hurricane Center, however, do not fully understand the cone of probability and focus instead on the line that runs down the middle, taking it as an accurate prediction of the storm’s path. J. Marshall Shepherd, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Georgia, explained the fallacy in a Facebook post. “Anywhere in that cone is a possibility,” Dr. Shepherd wrote, “and it has always been a challenge communicating...
Researchers Use Google Street View to See the Future of Cities
September 2, 2017
You can see the subtle changes when a neighborhood is on its way up—streets get cleaner, building facades improve, new businesses start moving in. Across an entire city, however, it’s harder to track such changes, to understand in real time which neighborhoods are improving and which may need an extra boost in development. A new tool by Harvard and MIT researchers promises to do just that, with the help of machine learning and the biggest library of urban images on the Internet: Google Street...
September 2, 2017
You can see the subtle changes when a neighborhood is on its way up—streets get cleaner, building facades improve, new businesses start moving in. Across an entire city, however, it’s harder to track such changes, to understand in real time which neighborhoods are improving and which may need an extra boost in development. A new tool by Harvard and MIT researchers promises to do just that, with the help of machine learning and the biggest library of urban images on the Internet: Google Street...
Using Big Data to Predict and Prevent Power Outages
August 26, 2017
High-speed winds during a thunderstorm may cause trees around an electric grid to crash into the distribution system feeders causing an outage in that area. Currently, most utility companies diminish such accidents by scheduling regular tree-trimming operations. This effort is costly and is based on a rotational approach to different service areas, which may take months and sometimes years before all trees are trimmed. Texas A&M University researchers have developed an intelligent model that...
August 26, 2017
High-speed winds during a thunderstorm may cause trees around an electric grid to crash into the distribution system feeders causing an outage in that area. Currently, most utility companies diminish such accidents by scheduling regular tree-trimming operations. This effort is costly and is based on a rotational approach to different service areas, which may take months and sometimes years before all trees are trimmed. Texas A&M University researchers have developed an intelligent model that...
Patents for Legal Services Technology Rose 484% in 2016
August 26, 2017
I’ve written any number of times about the rapid growth in recent years in the number of legal technology startups. A new report out today from Thomson Reuters documents a related aspect of that — the rapid rise in the global number of patents relating to legal services technology. The number of patents filed within the category “legal services and handling legal documents” has risen 484 percent in the last five years, according to the analysis by Thomson Reuters of data from the World...
August 26, 2017
I’ve written any number of times about the rapid growth in recent years in the number of legal technology startups. A new report out today from Thomson Reuters documents a related aspect of that — the rapid rise in the global number of patents relating to legal services technology. The number of patents filed within the category “legal services and handling legal documents” has risen 484 percent in the last five years, according to the analysis by Thomson Reuters of data from the World...
Elementary My Dear Watson!
August 19, 2017
In 2011, a computer gained fame as a celebrity. Its name was Watson*, of IBM. This was right after taking part in a very popular Q&A show on American TV (Jeopardy), in which Watson, with its ability to understand our language using only information recorded in its memory, and working offline, managed to successfully overcome two of the best Jeopardy players from past shows. Watson used Artificial Intelligence (AI) for this challenge. From there, AI has been increasingly discussed and applied...
August 19, 2017
In 2011, a computer gained fame as a celebrity. Its name was Watson*, of IBM. This was right after taking part in a very popular Q&A show on American TV (Jeopardy), in which Watson, with its ability to understand our language using only information recorded in its memory, and working offline, managed to successfully overcome two of the best Jeopardy players from past shows. Watson used Artificial Intelligence (AI) for this challenge. From there, AI has been increasingly discussed and applied...
Lipshaw on Lawyering by Artificial Intelligences
August 19, 2017
Jeffrey M. Lipshaw (Suffolk University Law School) has posted Halting, Intuition, Heuristics, and Action: Alan Turing and the Theoretical Constraints on AI-Lawyering (Savannah Law Review, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This is a reflection on the relationship of lawyering and artificial intelligence. Its goal is a better understanding of the theoretical constraints of the latter. The first part is an assessment of one particular and crucially important aspect in the theory of machine...
August 19, 2017
Jeffrey M. Lipshaw (Suffolk University Law School) has posted Halting, Intuition, Heuristics, and Action: Alan Turing and the Theoretical Constraints on AI-Lawyering (Savannah Law Review, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This is a reflection on the relationship of lawyering and artificial intelligence. Its goal is a better understanding of the theoretical constraints of the latter. The first part is an assessment of one particular and crucially important aspect in the theory of machine...
