big law

Fast Company reports that a major legal fight is taking shape over whether OpenAI can be held liable for ChatGPT under product liability law. The debate centers on whether AI chatbots should be treated like defective products when they cause harm, a question that could reshape accountability for the entire AI industry.

A panel discussion at the NSS Summit on Thursday, November 5th will tackle whether industry is prepared for the EU Cyber Resilience Act. The law requires products to be secure by design and by default, and also imposes obligations for managing security throughout a product's entire lifetime. Organisers frame the central question as 'Are we ready?', reflecting uncertainty among manufacturers and security professionals about compliance timelines and practical impact.

The Economist reports that large corporate law firms are undergoing a major shake-up driven by forces other than artificial intelligence. The piece suggests changes to how big law operates, competes and bills clients are coming from elsewhere in the industry. Readers are weighing what this shift means for the traditional partnership model and the future of elite legal work.

Law firm Akin has hired Neil DuChez, previously a lawyer at Goldman Sachs, as a technology transactions partner based in New York. The move strengthens the firm's technology practice, adding someone with in-house experience at a major bank at a time when demand for tech transaction and licensing legal work continues to grow.

Physicists say the universe's oldest light — the cosmic microwave background — may carry a twist, a subtle rotation that would hint at new physics from the early universe. A newly proposed method could allow researchers to detect this twisting effect for the first time, offering a fresh way to probe fundamental laws. The idea is drawing attention among cosmologists studying what happened moments after the Big Bang.