Artificial intelligence (AI)

has now rapidly gained importance in almost all areas of law, not only in copyright law, data protection law, or employment law, but in all of consumer and commercial law. AI applications are finding their way into all areas of business and private life.

In copyright law, AI gives rise to numerous unresolved and highly controversial questions, such as the permissibility of training AI services with copyrighted works, licensing agreements between rights holders and AI companies, allocation of authorship in the output, liability of users of AI services in the case of an exploitation of their AI-generated content, etc. In the next few years, many court decisions are to be expected here.

In terms of data protection law, the GDPR and other data protection laws must be observed, as a large amount of personal data can be collected and processed in AI systems, for instance, during account creation, within prompts and any files uploaded for review or revision, with access to local or cloud-based servers of the user, and so on. This also raises questions of the legal basis for such uses, consents, and data protection information obligations.

As a lawyer, I experience the importance of AI-based tools in my daily practice, on the one hand in mandate inquiries, which are often preceded by AI-generated reviews or AI-drafted contracts, and on the other hand in the current discussions in legal professional and liability law. Almost every day, new applications are launched on the market or existing services are expanded with AI functions. They cannot yet replace legal advice.

In Europe, the law of artificial intelligence is only rudimentarily regulated in the AI Act of 2024, which primarily deals with safety aspects (risk classifications, labelling obligations, impact assessments, ensuring the competencies of the persons involved). At the European level, further laws and adjustments are pending, in particular to integrate artificial intelligence law into the system of data protection law.

Typical areas of advice:

• Use of artificial intelligence in the creative industries (e.g., music, film, photography, art)
• AI and data protection
• AI and personal rights (deep fakes, etc.)
• Security, classification, labeling of AI services
• Liability and responsibility for AI services
• Contracts, licenses
• Use of AI in employment law

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