Artificial Intelligence (AI)

International law firm CMS has entered into a global partnership with Harvey, one of the world’s leading generative AI (GenAI) platforms. This partnership puts CMS, operating in 47 countries, at the forefront in using GenAI to enhance the delivery of legal services to clients. CMS has a strong track record of using AI technology in its legal service delivery in transaction, litigation and advisory practice groups. Adding GenAI technology to support clients around the globe is the next evolutionary step. CMS has been looking at the potential of AI for a number of years and at generative AI since before ChatGPT hit the news. “CMS believes that GenAI  will enhance and support our human knowledge and skills, enabling the firm to deliver even greater  benefits to its clients,” said Isabel Scholes, CMS Executive Dir­ect­or.​​Backed by ​OpenAI​,​​ ​Harvey augments productivity and streamlines workflows across ​different parts of legal work, such as contract analysis, due diligence, litigation and regulatory compliance. Harvey can help produce insights, assist in creating initial drafts, suggestions and forecasts from large amounts of data, which are used to create final deliverables. This helps lawyers provide quicker, better and more affordable solutions to their clients. In 2023, CMS started a pilot programme with Harvey, involving a large number of CMS lawyers, tax advisors and notaries in several jurisdictions. Now, CMS will introduce Harvey in a phased approach across its member firms, starting in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and the UK. Pierre-Sé­bas­tien Thill, CMS Chairman, said: “We are very pleased to be collaborating with the GenAI platform Harvey. CMS lawyers will now not only have access to GenAI tools that will help them enhance the delivery of services to our clients but will also work with the Harvey team to help shape the future of GenAI systems in the legal sector.”Duncan Weston, CMS Executive Partner, added: “At CMS, we are constantly challenging and innovating the way legal services are delivered. Our focus is on using technology to solve problems and generate value for our clients. Our global partnership with Harvey is a prime example of this.”"CMS's pioneering spirit in embracing Harvey's AI technology is a powerful move towards a more innovative legal sector. We are honoured to be a part of this journey," said Gabe Pereyra, Harvey Co-Founder and President."By joining forces with CMS, Harvey is helping to chart a new course for legal services that is more efficient, accurate, and client-focused. It's a privilege to support such a dedicated team of professionals," said Winston Weinberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Harvey.

The European Parliament adopted the AIA by a large majority on 13 March 2024. After minor linguistic and systematic revisions by the legal service, the so-called corrigendum to the AIA was adopted on 17 April 2024. This final text will then have to be approved by the Council of the European Union. A clear date for this has not yet been defined, but it can be assumed that this will happen in May 2024. The AI Act will enter into force on the 20th day after publication in the EU Official Journal and will be applicable after 24 months. However, some specific provisions will have different application dates, such as prohibitions on AI, that will apply 6 months after entry into force; or General Purpose AI models already on the market, which are given a compliance deadline of 12 months. The AI Office was established on 21 February 2024 and the European Commission will oversee the issuance of at least 20 delegated acts. The AI Act’s implementation will be supported by an expert group formed to advise and assist the European Commission in avoiding overlaps with other EU regulations. Meanwhile, Member States must appoint at least one notifying authority and one market surveillance authority and communicate to the European Commission the identity of the competent authorities and the single point of contact. The next regulatory step appears to be focused on AI liability. On 14 December 2023, EU policymakers reached a political agreement on the amendment of the Product Liability Directive. This proposal aims to accommodate technological developments, notably covering digital products like software, including AI. The next proposal in line in the AI package is the Directive on the ad­apt­a­tion/har­mon­iz­a­tion of the rules on non-contractual civil liability to Artificial Intelligence (AI Liability Directive). Addressing issues of causality and fault related to AI systems, this directive proposal ensures that claimants can enforce appropriate remedies when suffering damages in fault-based scenarios. The draft was published on 28 September 2022 and is still pending to be considered by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union . Once adopted, EU Member States will be obliged to transpose its provisions into national law within a likely two-year timeframe. The enactment of the AI Act represents a pivotal step towards fostering a regulatory landscape, not only in the EU but worldwide, that balances innovation, trust, and accountability, ensuring that AI serves as driver of progress while safeguarding fundamental rights and societal values.

Codes of conduct (Chapter X, Art. 95)In order to foster ethical and reliable AI systems and to increase AI literacy among those involved in the development, operation and use of AI, the new AI Act mandates the AI Office and Member States to promote the development of codes of conduct for non-high-risk AI systems. These codes of conduct, which should take into account available technical solutions and industry best practices, would promote voluntary compliance with some or all of the mandatory requirements that apply to high-risk AI systems. Such voluntary guidelines should be consistent with the EU values and fundamental rights and address issues such as transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy and data governance, and human oversight. Furthermore, to be effective, such codes of conduct should be based on clear objectives and key performance indicators to measure the achievement of these objectives. Codes of conduct may be developed by individual AI system providers, deployers, or organizations representing them and should be developed in an inclusive manner, involving relevant stakeholders such as business and civil society organisations, academia, etc. The  European Commission will assess the impact and effectiveness of the codes of conduct within two years of the AI Act entering into application, and every three years thereafter. The aim is to encourage the application of requirements for high-risk AI systems to non-high-risk AI systems, and possibly other additional requirements for such AI systems (including in relation to environmental sustainability).