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Artificial Intelligence: Law and Policy

In May 2016, the Lab and the UW School of Law co-hosted the first of four White House public workshops on artificial intelligence. Deputy CTO Ed Felton and other members of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy spoke on panels and were in attendance for the workshop.

Robotics and Law Primer Videos

Designed to cover the basic topics for a robotics policy class, the Primer Videos cover tech topics such as: bots, algorithms, machine learning, and robots; as well as legal topics providing explanations of administrative law and product liability.

What is Administrative Law?

Federal Agencies are semi-independent, executive bodies that are created through statute for subject-matter specific purposes. Agencies are formed by an act of Congress. Congress writes a kind of law called an “Organic Statute” that lays out the purpose and the structure of the agency. And then the agency is in charge of implementing the purpose as laid out in the statute.

What is a Robot?

In our research, we found 3 broad approaches that scholars use to define robots. These are (1) as artificial humans, (2) programmable machines, and (3) machines that can sense, think, and act on the world. None of these approaches offers a definition that works for all of the ways we already use the word. But […]

What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning is a process by which algortithms can ‘learn’ to interpret data by observing patters in existing data, and applying those insights to data it has never seen before.

What is Product Liability?

Product liability is the area of law in which consumers can bring claims gainst manufacturers and sellers for products that injure people. To sue for product liability, you only need to thos 1 of 3 things to hold the manufacturer liable.