12 Sep A week of AI breakthroughs: Tech giants soar, legal challenges mount
Updated on September 12, 2024 by David Lalire
The world of artificial intelligence (AI) is experiencing an unprecedented surge, driven by a combination of technological advancements and growing demand across industries. The last week has seen key developments in the tech industry, which not only underline the AI explosion but also highlight its increasing relevance in the legal sector.
The AI boom: Oracle and Nvidia leading the charge
One of the standout moments of this week has been Oracle’s unexpected dominance in the AI space.
Traditionally seen as a secondary player in cloud infrastructure, Oracle has surged forward thanks to its rapid expansion in AI capabilities. As Barron’s reports in its Tech newsletter, Oracle’s cloud infrastructure (OCI) experienced a 45% growth this quarter, largely driven by rising demand for AI model training. With plans to build nuclear-powered data centers hosting some of the world’s largest AI models, Oracle is positioning itself alongside major cloud players like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google .
Meanwhile, Nvidia continues to lead the AI hardware market. The company’s latest Blackwell chips are in such high demand that supply shortages have created tensions among customers. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference on September 11, CEO Jensen Huang noted, “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be the most,” reflecting the competitive rush for AI computing power, as reported by Bloomberg .
Nvidia’s stock surged by 8.2% following Huang’s remarks, contributing to a broader tech rally. Investors are optimistic about the potential returns on AI infrastructure, with Huang suggesting that every dollar invested in Nvidia’s technology could lead to five dollars in cloud-computing revenue .
Oracle’s partnership with Nvidia underscores this optimism. By mid-2025, Oracle will deploy the largest-ever GPU compute cluster, featuring 131,072 Nvidia GPUs, significantly expanding its AI capabilities and reinforcing Nvidia’s critical role in the AI revolution.
AI’s legal landscape: A growing focus on regulation
As AI continues to expand into various sectors, the need for a global regulatory framework has become increasingly urgent.
On September 5, 2024, the U.S., U.K., EU, and other nations signed the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, the first legally binding international treaty on AI. This convention sets out broad principles for AI governance, such as ensuring human rights protection, transparency, and accountability in the use of AI systems .
Unlike more prescriptive legislation like the EU AI Act, the treaty provides flexibility, allowing countries to determine how they will implement its provisions. As Law.com, reports, this flexibility has raised concerns about the potential for inconsistent regulation and weak enforcement mechanisms. The treaty is seen as a foundational step toward establishing global AI standards, but much will depend on how individual countries choose to enforce these principles in practice.
While the treaty’s flexibility could lead to different interpretations and applications across jurisdictions, it also creates a common language for AI governance, which is crucial for fostering international cooperation on this rapidly evolving issue .
Generative AI and the legal profession
On the ground, the legal industry is beginning to feel the effects of AI, particularly through the use of generative AI. Everlaw’s 2024 Ediscovery Innovation Report underscores how quickly lawyers are embracing AI tools. Unlike previous technological advancements, such as cloud-based e-discovery platforms, generative AI is being adopted at a rapid pace. Lawyers are particularly interested in AI’s ability to automate manual tasks and increase efficiency, seeing it as a way to improve client service while reducing costs .
However, despite this enthusiasm, the legal profession still faces challenges in fully integrating AI into daily practice. Many legal professionals remain concerned about the potential risks, including the accuracy of AI-generated content. The report emphasizes the importance of maintaining a human element in AI processes to mitigate the risks of errors and so-called “hallucinations” in AI outputs .
With Big Tech companies pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve, the legal profession will need to navigate this complex landscape carefully, balancing innovation with responsibility—and that’s putting it mildly. As AI becomes an integral part of e-discovery and litigation, the legal sector must remain vigilant in adapting its regulations to keep pace with this rapidly evolving technology.
