prior probability

I am attending the 100th meeting of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) in Washington, DC, and it’s been a busy whirlwind weekend for me. Among other things, I presented a paper on business ethics, The Friedman Doctrine Revisited; introduced a work-in-progress (with Justin Evans) about the possibility of property rights in Low Earth Orbit, Outer Space Problems; and was a finalist at the Charles M. Hewitt Master Teacher Competition.

1. Yup, AI is basically just a homework-cheating machine (Katie Notopoulos, Business Insider)

2. Professors want to ‘ChatGPT-proof’ assignments, and are returning to paper exams and requesting editing history to curb AI cheating (Aaron Mok, Associated Press)

3. Hug the robot? AI and the humanities (Joel Miller)

4. The AI Rights licensing platform for creators (waitlist)

5.

Earlier this week, federal judge Amit P. Mehta posted a 286-page opinion explaining why Google violated federal antitrust law to maintain an illegal monopoly in the online search market. I hate to be that guy, but the court’s book-length opinion is a purely symbolic one. In fact, I will not even bother to read it. Why? Because Judge Mehta does not specify what penalty, if any, should be imposed on Google for its supposed antitrust violations. (See here, for example, or the YouTube clip below.) In any case, I expect the decision to be overruled on appeal.

Numerous Tweets, such as the one below (see also more here) popped into my Twitter feed last week purporting to show Google manipulating its search results relating to Donald J. Trump. This “bug” appears to be fixed now (see here), but what else is Google trying to hide from us?

Bye bye, Debby! Although we dodged yet another tropical storm here in Central Florida, we still lost power for a few hours in my neck of the woods. A perfect opportunity for me to smoke a cigar and get caught up on some of my summer sabbatical readings! (I will also have more to say about my upcoming autumn projects in the next day or two.)

Two of my little daughter’s favorite Taylor Swift songs:

Today (4 August) is International Owl Awareness Day!

That is the title of this excellent paper by my colleague and friend Michael Smith, who is a law professor at St Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio, Texas.

P.S.: I have been meaning to blog about Professor Smith’s provocative critique of “originalism” months ago (see also his forthcoming work, “Is Originalism Bullshit?“), but it suffices to say this is one of those papers that I wish I had written first!

Sorry, not sorry!