Our Artificial Future
What Generative AI Means for Law and Society
Will be published approx. on 31. August 2026
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-009-71962-9 (ISBN)
Description
The Generative AI revolution is driven by corporations demanding legal superpowers. If we allow it to continue unchecked, the implications will be profound. This urgent, critical book exposes the unprecedented push by trillion-dollar companies to build AI on billions of unauthorized human works and redefine fundamental areas of law, including copyright, contract, and free speech. Written by an industry insider who turned from AI champion to AI critic, this highly accessible work promotes AI literacy and provides essential tools to pierce the hype. Readers will learn how to assess AI's profound societal risks to democracy and autonomy and ensure that we are the architects of-and not bystanders in-our artificial future.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
ISBN-13
978-1-009-71962-9 (9781009719629)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 08/2026
Cambridge University Press
€35.00
Not yet published
Person
David Atkinson was a paratrooper (82nd Airborne Division) before earning a master's from Harvard and a JD from Georgetown Law. He has since worked with the Allen Institute for AI and as a lecturer on AI, Law, & Ethics at University of Texas, Austin. His articles on generative AI are published in multiple law journals.
Content
Introduction; Part I. Understanding Generative Artificial Intelligence: 1. Overview; 2. Why GenAI is Made; 3. How GenAI is Made; 4. How GenAI is Measured; Part II. An Overview of Key Concepts: 5. Web Scraping; 6. The AI Race; 7. GenAIuflecting; 8. The Illusion of Democratization; 9. Automation Bias; 10. Anthropomorphizing; Part III. Legal: 11. An Introduction to Copyright Law; 12. Copyright Law and GenAI Exceptionalism; 13. An Introduction to the First Amendment; 14. The First Amendment and GenAI Exceptionalism; 15. Contract Law and Websites; 16. Contract Law and GenAI Exceptionalism; 17. Licensing for GenAI; 18. Tort Law: Negligence and Product Liability; 19. Property, Exclusion, and Trespass; Part IV. Societal Implications: 20. The Economics of the Internet; 21. Oligopolies; 22. Environmental Impact; 23. GenAI in Education; 24. Education and Democracy; Part V. Looking Further Ahead: 25. Human Autonomy; 26. Artificial General Intelligence; Part VI. What to Do About It: Chapter 27. Frameworks for Thinking About GenAI.