Unveiling Magic At CES 2024: The Legal Tech Perspective

(Picture by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP through Getty Pictures)

“Any sufficiently superior expertise is indistinguishable from magic.”– Third legislation of science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke.

Subsequent week, I’ll attend CES, the world’s preeminent client electronics commerce present, as a media consultant. It’s scheduled to kick off on January 9 in Las Vegas, appropriately sufficient. (CES was referred to as the Client Electronics Present. However that’s a moniker that makes the present’s sponsor, the Client Know-how Affiliation, at present shudder). This yr marks the a centesimal anniversary of the founding of the CTA, a testomony to how far we’ve are available client electronics specifically and tech usually.

The occasion is a melting pot of innovation and expertise, with over 3,500 exhibitors, together with over 1,000 startups. Exhibitors and attendees span nearly each business. Healthcare, transportation, AI, magnificence tech, good dwelling options, sustainability, and gaming, amongst different issues, will likely be out in pressure. The a number of expo halls are stuffed to the brim with new devices and prototypes.

Final yr’s present drew over 100,000 folks. It’s a large conga line stretching from the Conference Middle on the north finish of the Strip to Mandalay Bay on the south finish. It’s half pc science, half big celebration, half advertising and marketing and half, effectively, schmaltz.

Why CES Issues to Authorized Tech 

I’m one of many few authorized tech journalists who repeatedly attend CES. So what’s one poor little lawyer turned authorized tech blogger doing right here amidst all of the glitz and glamour? Three causes.

1. The Way forward for Client Tech Merchandise

CES is all in regards to the future. What is feasible. What’s coming for client merchandise. CES has traditionally launched tech that, in numerous types, later finds its approach into the mainstream and for that matter, authorized.

Studying about these merchandise helps me anticipate how rising tech might change the authorized panorama. These adjustments are significantly vital with the event of Gen AI.

Gen AI will change authorized maybe greater than Google search, iPhones and the web mixed reworked our potential to entry and use info. And Gen AI will likely be on the forefront on this yr’s present.

Sure, the authorized business is behind client tech with regards to adoption. Nevertheless it’s good to get some notion of what’s potential — now and sooner or later. (Way back to 2020, CES audio system have been saying that AI would permeate each side of our commerce and tradition. Who would have predicted how proper they might be?)

2. Figuring out Developments and Their Authorized Implications

Final yr, CES highlighted tendencies like decentralization — eradicating the center individual from transactions — and AI’s rising affect. These tendencies have profound implications for the authorized career, from how we deal with monetary transactions to the evolution of e-discovery. It’s not an overstatement to say that understanding these tendencies is essential for anticipating future challenges and alternatives in authorized.

Oh, and by the way in which, not like legislation corporations, the Large 4 accounting corporations attend CES as each presenters and exhibitors. (Deloitte provides guided excursions to the exhibit flooring). One has to ask: What do they see that authorized doesn’t?

3. The Power of Innovation

CES is the final word entrepreneurial spirit and innovation hub. It’s about exploring the potential. It’s the power and perspective of the entrepreneurs there. It’s the sensation that they’re searching for options and new issues as a substitute of specializing in what can’t be finished. To cite the science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke’s second legislation, “The one approach of discovering the bounds of the potential is to enterprise a bit of well past them into the unimaginable.” 

That mindset is in stark distinction to the cautious and risk-averse authorized sector. We would like perfection first time on a regular basis. We discuss an excessive amount of about why some expertise simply received’t work for authorized. That it’s unreliable, and the coup de grace: It creates potential moral points. We don’t see the magic.

There’s one more reason publicity to contemporary concepts is vital. Considered one of my purchasers used to say, let’s watch out. We don’t wish to discover ourselves within the closet speaking to ourselves an excessive amount of. As a reporter and observer of what occurs within the authorized world, it’s simple to fall sufferer to the closet phenomenon. Most of us go to the identical reveals, see the identical folks, say the identical issues. It’s good to get out into a distinct world. It helps see issues in authorized for what they’re. Or what they aren’t.

Publicity to the entrepreneurial spirit that permeates CES helps me keep a contemporary and open-minded strategy to expertise in legislation. To concentrate on prospects fairly than limitations. 

The Magic of CES 2024: What to Anticipate

This yr, CES will concentrate on 4 key themes. The themes are entry to expertise, partnership with the UN’s Human Safety initiative, and the centennial celebration. And, after all, greater than anything, Gen AI. CES guarantees every theme will provide a novel lens by means of which we will view expertise’s present and future state. 

And whereas final yr’s present happened shortly after the introduction of ChatGPT and Gen AI was not entrance and middle, this yr’s will likely be all about Gen AI. It will likely be all about what it will probably do. Gen AI will seem in automobiles, scooters, headphones, audio system, and cameras, amongst different issues launched at CES. It’s rumored that Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD will announce chips that may work to course of AI on gadgets that carry them. This may scale back the necessity to add info to the cloud and pace up response time exponentially.

And all the time a giant draw is Eureka Park, which showcases the over 1,000 startups. Eureka Park is housed within the basement of the Venetian Expo conference middle. Right here, crammed in aisle after aisle of exhibit house, are startups hoping to make the subsequent large factor. Right here is the place you discover folks pursuing their passions and desires. A spot that provides a glimpse into the long run by means of the eyes of hopeful entrepreneurs. 

CES isn’t just about expertise; it’s a mix of pc science, advertising and marketing, and revelry. The occasion turns Las Vegas into an enormous, interconnected stage for innovation. It makes me consider Arthur Clarke’s first legislation: “When a distinguished however aged scientist states that one thing is feasible, he’s nearly definitely proper. When he states that one thing is unimaginable, he’s very in all probability fallacious.”

As I put together to attend CES for the sixth time, I hope to convey you some insights and tales. Whether or not exploring the most recent in Gen AI, delving into the potential of the Metaverse, or just soaking within the entrepreneurial power, CES 2024 is all the time an enlightening expertise. 

Keep tuned.

Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger and author. He publishes TechLaw Crossroads, a weblog dedicated to the examination of the strain between expertise, the legislation, and the apply of legislation.