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California Western School of Law Professor James Cooper Discusses AI and the Law on Fox 5 San Diego

Mar 28 2024
CWSL Professor of Law James Cooper and hit record producer Fernando Garibay
CWSL Professor of Law James Cooper and hit record producer Fernando Garibay

SAN DIEGO (March 28, 2024) -- California Western School of Law (CWSL) Professor of Law James Cooper appeared on Fox 5 San Diego News and KUSI TV News to discuss artificial intelligence and the law, alongside his collaborator and co-author, Grammy-nominated record producer Fernando Garibay. 

In the segment, Garibay commented on his optimism about the possibilities for creative collaboration using AI, seeing “technology as a symbiotic process to our next evolution, not only as creatives but as humans as well.” Professor Cooper weighed in on legal questions that have arisen across a number of fields in terms of copyright infringement in the use of AI. He noted that “our legislators have not really wrapped their minds around” this “multi-trillion-dollar question.” 

The duo's TV appearance came as a precursor to CWSL’s symposium “Accountable AI: The Responsible Governance of AI and Emerging Technologies,” for which Mr. Garibay was a keynote speaker. 

Professor Cooper also published a new op-ed on Law.com entitled, “Regulating Digital Assets: Can the United States Avoid Being a Legislative Luddite?” and co-authored with Kashyap Kompella, CEO at RPA2AI Research. In this piece, Professor Cooper and Mr. Kompella detail the ongoing global race to regulate AI and emerging technologies. 

The two note that some regulation efforts in the EU have had “unintended consequences and do not necessarily accomplish the objectives they set out to achieve,” while others like the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Pilot Regime which create “a safe and controlled environment… while policy makers and law enforcement officials learn how to best regulate emerging technologies.”

The authors ultimately conclude that U.S. regulation ought to follow this model, noting that “smart regulators are not driven by short-term optics; instead, they focus on long-term consumer welfare, financial and technological innovation, and the upside and optionality they represent.” 

The Fox 5 segment is available here and Professor Cooper’s latest op-ed can be accessed here. Professor Cooper and Mr. Kompella are also co-authors of the forthcoming “A Short and Happy Guide to Artificial Intelligence” to be published by West Academic.