Compatibility and Challenges: Investigating the Legal Landscape in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Research Title

Compatibility and Challenges: Investigating the Legal Landscape in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Introduction to Research

We need to begin by giving a concise summary of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and how it relates to the law. It’s worth mentioning that the term “industrial revolution” was coined by the French envoy Louis-Guillaume Otto in a letter dated July 6, 1799. This marked France’s official entry into the global industrialization competition.

Years went by, and with each passing industrial revolution, we arrived at the year 2016. In December of that year, precisely during the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, Klaus Schwab, the founder and CEO of the Forum, introduced the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He emphasized that the scale, scope, and intricacies of this revolution would be unlike anything humanity had experienced before.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is often seen as an evolution of the Third Industrial Revolution, commonly known as the digital revolution. It is propelled by several key drivers, including robots, autonomous vehicles, genetic engineering, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, the Internet of Things, big data, and more.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterized by the merging of the physical, digital, and biological realms. Emerging technologies in these areas have already been integrated into various aspects of life, significantly impacting our daily routines and experiences.

Research problem

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the law share a close relationship due to their inherent consistency. This connection prompts us to explore two primary areas: the legal frameworks, encompassing regulatory and executive aspects, governing emerging technology, digital transformation, and legal technology.

The importance and objectives of the research

In this thesis, the researcher aims to analyze the emerging issues following the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence across different sectors. These include, but are not limited to, breaches of confidentiality and data protection, infringement upon intellectual property rights, cybersecurity concerns, issues of control and accountability, as well as legal challenges related to transnational crimes, jurisdiction, and labor and employment law in the era of automation.

The researcher also intends to highlight the significance of digital transformation and legal technology within the legal realm. This encompasses various aspects such as legal research, automated time tracking, invoicing processes, utilization of smart contracts, automation of contract drafting, legal chatbots, case management and tracking systems, and the application of generative artificial intelligence across multiple legal domains.

Research assumes

Examples of obstacles we face due to technological progress include issues related to intellectual property rights and cyberattacks.

“Everything in life is a double-edged sword; its impact depends on how it is wielded.”

Technology epitomizes this concept, starting from the invention of the Internet to the latest innovations yet to come. Given that the role of law is to ensure fairness and justice, lawmakers across different judicial systems must craft legislation, laws, and regulatory frameworks for emerging technological domains. This is crucial because technology presents numerous legal challenges that require swift and effective resolution, especially considering the rapid and continuous development impacting various aspects of our daily lives, including but not limited to:

Control and responsibility:

The advent of self-driving cars introduces complex legal challenges concerning control and liability. In the event of car accidents, determining responsibility becomes a critical issue. Will the responsibility rest with the car owner, the vehicle manufacturer, or the company behind the self-driving system? Several countries, including Singapore, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and some Gulf nations like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, have taken proactive measures in addressing these issues. The competition among countries to stay at the forefront of development is intensifying, as failure to progress risks becoming obsolete.

Countries are now in a race to enact legislation and laws to establish responsibility and, consequently, mete out appropriate punishment commensurate with the extent of the damage incurred.

As mentioned earlier, the Emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates took the lead among Arab nations by issuing legislation to regulate the operation of autonomous vehicles. The prudent government of the emirate enacted Law No. 9 of 2023 concerning the regulation of autonomous vehicle operations in Dubai, which came into effect last year. This law, comprising 27 articles, effectively regulates various aspects, setting a standard for the future of this field. It provides clear definitions, scope of application, and objectives. It delineates responsibilities, including managing registration files for autonomous vehicles, determining usage guidelines, conducting activities, technical inspections, licensing conditions and procedures, as well as maintenance, repair, and modification protocols for these vehicles, Furthermore, the law also outlines the obligations of the operator, agent, and passenger. It provides clarity on civil and criminal liability and governs the sale of vehicles, ownership transfers, associated fees, administrative and judicial violations, fines, and appeals against decisions made by relevant authorities. Importantly, it is aligned with the Federal Traffic Law and ministerial decisions related to this domain. This ensures that the law serves as a cornerstone, offering a fundamental framework upon which emerging countries in this market can rely. It provides a basis for quoting and referencing in various legal contexts and materials.

In the case of the Da Vinci Surgical System, a robotic surgical system developed by Intuitive Surgical, which specializes in medical and surgical equipment, responsibility in the event of a medical error raises complex questions. This system, approved by the American Food and Drug Administration, enables remote surgery, with the surgeon controlling it from a distant location. If a medical error occurs, determining responsibility is intricate. Is it solely the responsibility of the doctor? Or does it lie with the robot manufacturer? If a problem arises in the system’s programming, leading to a loss of control for the surgeon, does responsibility rest with the company that manufactured the robot or with the one that programmed it? These questions underscore the need for comprehensive legal frameworks to address liability issues arising from advancements in medical technology.
Virtual assets, representing simplified forms of blockchains, have gained prominence in recent years. It’s worth noting the pioneering role of the Emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the first Arab jurisdiction to establish legislation in this realm. This initiative was followed by Cabinet Resolution No. (111) of 2022, which aims to regulate virtual assets and their service providers.

Several years ago, the rapid advancement of technology became closely tied to the digital representation of value, which could be traded or transferred electronically and used for investment purposes. This concept excludes digital representations of paper currencies, securities, or other forms of money. With the emergence of commodities and digital currencies, there arose a need for a legislative framework to govern this global relationship. Countries began to acknowledge the reality that this was not merely a dream or science fiction. Consequently, Law No. 4 of 2022 was enacted in the Emirate of Dubai to regulate virtual assets, followed by Ministerial Council Resolution No. (111) of 2022, which aims to regulate virtual assets and their service providers. These two regulations marked the inception of Arab efforts to manage virtual assets across the region. They codified numerous important points that had not been addressed among Arab nations before the issuance of these legislations. Both of them established a specific authority, named the Authority to Regulate Virtual Assets, which is the sole legal entity responsible for directing and regulating the management of virtual assets. This authority is granted a unique legal personality, distinct from any other entity or representative, as clearly outlined in the legislation.

Indeed, the discussion so far has primarily highlighted the positive aspects of development within certain branches of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, providing a simplified account of its bright side. However, it’s essential to recognize that there exists a hidden, darker side with potentially undesirable consequences, particularly if these advancements are not carefully managed concerning their impact on humans. In many ways, technological evolution may outpace human adaptation. Moreover, technology presents numerous legal challenges and risks that demand serious, swift, and effective responses. These challenges include, but are not limited to:

Violation of confidentiality and data protection:
- As the collection of personal data via websites, mobile applications, and tablets rapidly expands, there is a pressing need for legislators to enact laws that strike a balance between leveraging technology and safeguarding individual privacy. This involves establishing mechanisms to maintain the confidentiality of personal information and regulating its collection, usage, and sharing in legal and legitimate ways.

Intellectual property infringement:
- Protecting intellectual property rights poses significant challenges in the modern technological era, particularly with the proliferation of generative artificial intelligence. Websites and applications powered by artificial intelligence are readily available to the public either for free or at low costs, often under implicit agreements allowing the use of user inputs to train various types of language models and AI programs. These programs generate outputs, whether textual or visual, based on the user-entered inputs, which may contain materials subject to intellectual property rights. Hence, it’s noteworthy for the researcher to mention the current issue, a recent matter brought before American courts by the New York Times against both OpenAI, the company behind the renowned ChatGPT program, and Microsoft, a software company, regarding copyright infringement and data protection. This led the prominent newspaper to demand the destruction of chat program models and training datasets containing its articles. Consequently, the researcher emphasizes the necessity for legislators to address this issue by crafting laws that safeguard intellectual property rights while simultaneously preserving freedom of creativity and utilizing technology to protect the rights of all parties involved.

Cybersecurity:
- As we highlighted earlier, protecting intellectual property presents one of the most daunting challenges in the modern technological era. Similarly, cybersecurity faces escalating threats, with the proliferation of cyber attacks and intrusions. The researcher emphasizes the imperative for countries to ensure the security of technological systems and infrastructure through their legal frameworks. Additionally, clear responsibility must be assigned, alongside establishing legal procedures concerning cybersecurity, safeguarding sensitive data, and implementing deterrent penalties for cybercrime.

With the rising utilization of technology for national security and defense, companies like NSO Group, owner of the notorious Pegasus spyware program, have touted their collaboration with authorities in combating drug trafficking gangs and other criminal activities. However, despite the noble intentions behind such programs, they are sometimes exploited. In some cases, they are even misused, resulting in human rights violations such as indiscriminate mass surveillance of political opponents, lawyers, and human rights defenders. Their mobile phones are hacked, and their personal data and conversations are leaked by governments that have acquired this technology, repurposing it for their own espionage activities. This misuse poses a significant threat and warrants serious attention from regulatory and oversight bodies.

Jurisdiction:
- The complexity of modern technology is increasing and diversifying, posing challenges for laws, legal systems, and judicial processes to keep pace with rapid developments. The researcher suggests that addressing this complexity may necessitate the establishment of specialized courts or committees for handling intricate technological issues. These specialized bodies may require judges, lawyers, and legal advisors with specific expertise in both technology and law, given the need to adjudicate highly technical matters. Therefore, preference may be given to individuals with joint academic degrees in computer science and law for judicial positions, and they may also be given priority in representing cases before these specialized courts and committees.

Labor and employment law in the age of automation:
- With the anticipated automation of entire jobs through artificial intelligence and technology, akin to previous industrial revolutions where horses and buggies were replaced by cars and vehicles, it’s expected that certain jobs will be displaced by technology. For instance, recruitment agencies have already been affected, with Amazon’s use of artificial intelligence in recruitment resulting in bias against women, leading to the termination of that experiment. This highlights a significant challenge in the automation of recruitment processes. The researcher stresses the importance of developers and programmers ensuring that artificial intelligence programs are free from any form of sexual or racial bias. Moreover, laws and regulations must be enacted to govern employment processes and safeguard rights and equality.

This was with regard to regulatory and legislative frameworks for emerging technology. Turning to the utilization of technology in the legal domain, digital transformation and legal technology have garnered significant attention from legal professionals and enthusiasts alike. These advancements have paved the way for numerous investors to explore opportunities in legal technology solutions tailored specifically for lawyers, law firms, legal consultations, and even judicial systems and governments.

Legal technology, as defined by Julian Webb, involves the utilization of digital information and communication technologies to automate legal tasks, offer decision-making support to legal service providers, and provide legal information and advice directly to clients or end-users. Hoffman Rehm’s interpretation, which defines legal technology as “the application of new technologies in the world of law to carry out tasks that were traditionally performed by lawyers and other employees working in law firms,” closely aligns with this understanding.

Legal technology in its contemporary form relies on leveraging artificial intelligence in the legal domain to enhance the efficiency of legal processes, thereby saving time, effort, and costs. This includes automating repetitive tasks, minimizing paperwork, and freeing up space and time for legal professionals to concentrate on more intricate legal issues.

Additionally, with the use of legal technology, access to justice has become more convenient and efficient. Governments like that of the United Arab Emirates have facilitated individuals’ ability to register their cases on court platforms, initiate execution files, and access other services that streamline the legal process, saving time, effort, and money. Individuals can now carry out these procedures without the need for legal representation.

Generative artificial intelligence is also utilized in law firms and legal departments within companies across various fields, including but not limited to:

Legal research:
- Legal research tools employ classification technology to extract data concerning requests, complaints, decisions, and orders from thousands of case summaries. By extracting this data, metrics are generated to assist lawyers or legal researchers in understanding the likelihood of achieving specific outcomes in their cases. It is anticipated that legal research tools will advance to the extent that they can draft legal arguments statistically indicating a case’s likelihood of success, following an analysis of the case’s circumstances and context.
Automating timekeeping and invoicing:
- Artificial intelligence tools are employed to record the hours spent by legal professionals on their cases using specialized accounting programs. These programs are pre-configured with the hourly rate, client information, and case data. Additionally, they enable legal assistants to input expenses. Subsequently, the program autonomously generates comprehensive invoices with minimal human involvement.

Smart contracts:
- Smart contracts are typically built on blockchain technology. They operate as self-executing contracts, facilitating the execution of documented transactions and agreements among different and anonymous parties without the necessity of a central authority, electronic system, or monitoring mechanism for enforcement.
- Smart contracts find applications in various fields, including but not limited to healthcare, insurance companies, supply chains, financial services, and government voting systems.
- Smart contracts offer several advantages over traditional contracts. They don’t require intermediaries to validate the agreement, thus eliminating the risk of manipulation by third parties. This results in cost reduction and allows for easy issuance of additional copies at any time. Moreover, smart contracts help reduce the rate of human error inherent in manual contract writing. Additionally, they contribute to environmental preservation by minimizing paper and ink usage.
- The United Arab Emirates employs smart contract technology across various fields, including but not limited to, facilitating legal agencies and transferring ownership of vehicles and real estate properties.
Document automation:
- Artificial intelligence tools enable document automation through platforms and programs supported by AI. These platforms are equipped with pre-existing templates for contracts and agreements and feature user interfaces that allow users to input required data. This streamlined process results in the creation of documents in less time and with greater efficiency.

Legal chatbots:
- Utilizing generative artificial intelligence techniques, legal chatbots based on AI technology can be developed. These chatbots are trained and equipped with necessary legal information to address straightforward inquiries. In cases of complex questions, they refer users to specialized lawyers. This approach saves time, effort, and costs while enabling legal professionals to dedicate their time to challenging and intricate legal matters.

These AI-powered tools and programs offer numerous benefits for lawyers and legal departments, including but not limited to:

Saving time and effort by automating various tasks.
Conducting data analysis swiftly and efficiently, as artificial intelligence programs can process large amounts of data.
Document summarization: Leveraging generative artificial intelligence and natural language processing techniques, AI tools can summarize extensive legal documents.
Legal writing and research: Artificial intelligence tools can generate legal drafts, check grammar and linguistic rules, suggest relevant legal matters, and recommend sources.
Case management and tracking: AI tools can automate case management by tracking deadlines and sending alerts for impending deadlines.
Enhancing customer communication: AI-powered chatbots can effectively respond to customer inquiries, offer 24/7 support, and direct complex questions to the appropriate personnel.
Content personalization: AI tools can tailor legal content according to the individual needs and preferences of clients.
E-marketing: Artificial intelligence tools and data science techniques can aid in identifying potential customers, customizing marketing campaigns, expanding customer outreach, and attracting new clientele.

Conclusion and recommendations:

In this era, we are experiencing rapid advancements in development technologies and artificial intelligence, which constitute key components of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. These advancements permeate all aspects of our lives, presenting enticing opportunities for users across various fields to experiment with and benefit from these technologies. However, it is crucial to remain cognizant of the risks associated with their utilization.

The researcher underscores the importance of raising awareness among legal professionals about the risks confronting the legal industry. They emphasize the necessity for modern and agile legislation to match the pace of rapid technological advancements. Additionally, they highlight the general risks inherent in cases requiring defense, emphasizing the preservation of human dignity, as humanity is divinely honored and appointed as stewards on Earth.

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Compatibility and Challenges: Investigating the Legal Landscape in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Research Title