![handle is hein.journals/kjlppo29 and id is 1 raw text is:
INDUSTRY 4.0 ERA TECHNOLOGY (Al, BIG DATA,
BLOCKCHAIN, DAO): WHY THE LAW NEEDS NEW MEMES
By: Adam Sulkowski*
I. INTRODUCTION
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is disrupting the field of law, as evidenced
by disputes over data ownership and privacy,' legal liability for Artificial
Intelligence (Al),2 and litigation on the issue of whether a gig economy worker
is an independent contractor or an employee.3 In fact, the founder and CEO of
the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, has already derided the field of law,
proclaiming that it is mired in the era of the Second Industrial Revolution.4
This essay extends an invitation to action, encouraging further research and
policy-making to at least catch-up to-if not anticipate and be proactively ready
for-emerging realities. This essay is part of a wider conversation which is
inevitably evolving out of novel legal controversies. For example, who or what
should a court hold accountable when a vehicle run by Al programmed by
members of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) hurts someone,
and, if the members as individuals are-for whatever reason-judgment-proof,
* Associate Professor, Babson College. B.A., 1996, College of William & Mary; M.B.A., 1999,
Boston College, Carroll School of Management; J.D., 2000, Boston College Law School. The
author thanks Mystica Alexander, Associate Professor at Bentley University, for her help.
1 See Bennett Cyphers et al., Data Privacy Scandals and Public Policy Picking Up Speed: 2018 in
Review, ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUND. (Dec. 31, 2018), https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/12/
data-privacy-scandals-and-public-policy-picking-speed-2018-year-review [https://penna.cc/S648-
7QN5]; see also Molly Wood, Goodbye, 2018 A Year of Data and Privacy Scandals,
MARKETPLACE (Dec. 31, 2018), https://www.marketplace.org/2018/12/31/tech/goodbye-2018-
year-data-privacy-scandals [https://penna.cc/6MX2-REG3].
2 See Emerging Technology from the arXiv, When an Al Finally Kills Someone, Who Will Be
Responsible?, MIT TECH. REv. (Mar. 12, 2018), https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610459/
when-an-ai-finally-kills-someone-who-will-be-responsible [https://penna.cc/VSB5-LETQ].
See Mike Kappel, The End OfAn Era? How The ABC Test CouldAffect Your Use ofIndependent
Contractors, FORBES (Aug. 8, 2018, 9:10 AM), https://www.foibes.com/sites/mikekappel/2018/08/
08/the-end-of-an-era-how-the-abc-test-could-affect-your-use-of-independent-contractors/
#32bbfc5dlf66 [https://perna.ccIU7TW-7AEP].
4 See Klaus Schwab, The Fourth Industrial Revolution: What It Means, How to Respond, WORLD
ECON. FORUM (Jan. 14, 2016), https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-
revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond [https://perma.cc/CRF5-UWBR].
1](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/kjlppo29&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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