Puerto Rico Artificial Intelligence Laws

Welcome to Puerto Rico Artificial Intelligence Laws. My personal commentary article on one of many essential reasons on the who, what, when, where, why, and how Puerto Rico can become an Artificial Intelligence innovator, creator, and influencer for Latin America; in particular in what I phrase as Artificial Intelligence Laws, a potentially new era of legal reasoning, legal systems, legal institutions, and legal framework that adequately embrace, academically explore, and properly prepare for a tomorrow interconnected with Artificial Intelligence anywhere and everywhere.

First and foremost, I want to take this moment to declare a necessary personal disclaimer that I am not a licensed attorney at law, and I do not hold a Juris Doctorate, and therefore I am not a lawyer. My article called Puerto Rico Artificial Intelligence Laws, also titled as Puerto Rico AI Laws, AI Laws or Artificial Intelligence Laws, is my personal opinion, technical speculation, aspirational suggestion, and news commentary of a potential area of legal study, lawmaking, and legal practice to emerge within our lifetime very soon. Therefore my article titled Puerto Rico Artificial Intelligence Laws should not be construed, considered, or accepted as legal advice of any kind. If you desire, need, or require the legal advice or service of any kind, I encourage you to contact in person a licensed attorney at law in good standing in your city, state, commonwealth, territory, or country where you reside, work, or study.

Now with that personal disclaimer clearly stated, allow me to explain the essential reasons on the who, what, when, where, why, and how Puerto Rico can become an Artificial Intelligence innovator, creator, and influencer for Latin America; in particular in what I phrase as Artificial Intelligence Laws, a new area of legal study, lawmaking, and legal practice that adequately embrace, academically explore, and properly prepare for a tomorrow filled with Artificial Intelligence anywhere and everywhere.

The who? Puerto Rico, as a commonwealth is fascinating in terms of being able to study, practice, and make laws islandwide. Lawyers educated, trained, licensed, and practicing in Puerto Rico have a unique advantage over their counterparts on the mainland. That advantage is a more comprehensive cultural, linguistic, political, and legal understanding of Latin America and the United States simultaneously that is more nuanced, innate, and natural.

The what? Artificial Intelligence will virtually be everywhere in our society. Our courts, legislatures, and regulatory agencies will be influenced by Artificial Intelligence in some form and to some extent. How much will remain to be seen?

Puerto Rico’s legal profession will have a unique opportunity in academic legal history to properly address the urgent need to debate, thoughtfully establish, clearly define, impartially enforce, and carefully draft reasonable Artificial Intelligence Laws to significantly influence at all government levels; from law schools, Spanish-speaking courts, jurisdictions, and lawmaking bodies throughout Latin America. Hopefully, Puerto Rico’s future Artificial Intelligence Laws could be a legislative template, road-map, or blueprint for other Latin American governments, courts, and law schools to learn from that would inspire them to promptly design their version of Artificial Intelligence Laws. Perhaps, in theory, Puerto Rico could have an Artificial Intelligence Charter of Laws for the public benefit for all of Latin America?

The when? As soon as possible. It is imperative for the legal profession, legislators, the judiciary, and law schools, and people in the Artificial Intelligence industry and academia to collaborate as quickly as possible to discuss current and future Artificial Intelligence Laws. Like the Internet, the power, influence, and reach of Artificial Intelligence will not wait for any person (lawyers, paralegals, judges, etc.), industry (legal profession, law schools, etc.), or government to catch up.

Our Artificial Intelligence already is in the here and now, in our homes, cars, healthcare, and work. Matter of fact, the UK, Estonia, and others are seriously exploring, testing, and using Artificial Intelligence for everyday low-level court judgments (parking tickets, expired vehicle plates, etc.). Ideally, Puerto Rico’s legal profession, legislators, the judiciary, and law schools will start diligently collaborating with other Artificial Intelligence influencers, advocates, and organizations like Puerto Rico AI, to jumpstart the urgent process of proposing, reviewing, and drafting meaningful, reasonable, acceptable, popular, and enforceable Artificial Intelligence Laws for Puerto Rico’s common and civil laws.

The where? For now, Puerto Rico’s law schools, the judiciary, and legal associations (Bar Association of Puerto Rico, Federal Bar Association in Puerto Rico, etc.) can jumpstart the informal process of engaging in constructive, clear, and consistent conversations concerning Artificial Intelligence Laws influence on current and future areas of legal study, lawmaking, and legal practice.

The why? For universal consistency and clarity in the legal study, lawmaking, and legal practice of Artificial Intelligence Laws, Puerto Rico’s legal profession, law schools, the judiciary, government, and legal associations will need to proactively collaborate now more than ever with Artificial Intelligence advocates, experts, and businesses to jointly build a meaningful, reasonable, acceptable, popular, and enforceable legal framework for a society that is increasingly becoming more dependent on the power and influence of Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence is impacting our personal lives, health, livelihood, government, environment, and the world in many predictable as well as unpredictable ways. From self-driving automobiles, voice search, and even national security, Artificial Intelligence will disruptively influence and change the legal professions, courts, legislatures, and governments on a global scale one way or another. Unfortunately, most legal associations, judges, legislators, and regulatory agencies across the globe are not taking adequate, timely, and concrete action to genuinely address and understand a world increasingly influenced and reliant on Artificial Intelligence.

For example, there is particular longstanding local, state, and federal laws, to help regulate the planning, support the building, upgrades, and usage for our critical energy infrastructure (power-lines, gas lines, wind, solar, etc.) to ensure commonsense public safety and adequate consumer protection; why not for our Artificial Intelligence? Without always accessible, reliable, and safe access to our energy grid, our quality of life would be no more in the modern sense. Artificial Intelligence will be just as critical in our society as is electricity is today. Most of us do not understand how our electrical power system network, comprised of generating plants, transmission lines, substations, transformers, and distribution lines work; yet we want, need, and most importantly expect the lights to turn when a flip a light switch on, or for some us when we say “Alexa, turn lights on”.

The how? Future Artificial Intelligence Laws should be collaboratively explored, carefully drafted, and accepted by the general public, businesses, academia, and government in a thoughtful, careful, and deliberate manner. Enforcing too many inadequate, overreaching, complicated, or unfair Artificial Intelligence Laws will severely harm the innate innovation, spontaneity, and usefulness of Artificial Intelligence for many consumers, industries, economies, and governments.

That’s why I made a simple wishlist I would like to see occur by Puerto Rico’s legal profession, law schools, judiciary, legislature, and regulatory agencies.

Indeed, Artificial Intelligence combined with the study, practice, and making of laws is a new, exciting, and unavoidable human dilemma condition for all of us. More immediate personal safety with widespread facial recognition or less personal privacy? More self-driving automobiles for safer driving with extraordinary comfort or more self-driving automobiles to exponentially congest roads, thereby catastrophically polluting our environment (food, air, water, etc.) while simultaneously permanently destroying entire classes of jobs en mass (truck drivers, bus drivers, etc.)?

Our history has shown us that the vast area of studying, practicing, and the making of laws can be used for the greater good of humanity or for unspeakable injustices and crimes against people (Holocaust, the Inquisition, etc.) and the world (climate change, war, etc.). I created the term human dilemma condition intentionally, in relation to Artificial Intelligence Laws. I am convinced that Puerto Rico’s legal profession, law schools, legislatures, and judiciary can exclusively become a beacon of hope, fairness, and inspiration for future Artificial Intelligence Laws in other Latin American countries derived on thoughtful, impartial, and collaborative legal reasoning and theory.

In summary, the most immediate, honest, and reasonable action Puerto Rico’s legal profession, judiciary, legislature, and law schools can do is to help start the much needed public discussion on the establishment of a new governmental agency called Department of Technology. The future Department of Technology would have some form of oversight, investigative, and advisory capacities for technology related matters to ensure consumer rights, fraud detection, public safety, and if necessary criminal prosecution.

When certain laws are created, revised, enforced, or weaken in the wrong hands, immense pain, suffering, and injustices will surely follow. When certain laws are created, revised, enforced, or weaken in the right hands, immense public benefit, peace, prosperity, and justice will follow.

When certain Artificial Intelligence technologies are created, updated, propagated, or compromised in the wrong hands, immense pain, suffering, and injustices will surely follow. When certain Artificial Intelligence technologies in the right hands are created, updated, and shared immense public benefit, peace, prosperity, and justice will follow.

I have had the privilege of witnessing in person the great joys of manmade laws being used for the good of humanity, like in our US Immigration Courts allowing families to remain united, likewise I have witnessed firsthand the absolute horror of the law being dangerously abused, such as refusal to allow legal counsel or representation by a sitting judge for one party but not the other.

The Artificial Intelligence human dilemma condition continues because ultimately the legal study, legal practice, lawmaking, and use of Artificial Intelligence Laws are all about our human condition. I know Puerto Rico’s law schools, judiciary, legislature, and legal profession island-wide collectively can be the defining influence for our future Artificial Intelligence Laws for the people of Puerto Rico, and eventually all of Latin America.

Here are some of the preliminary steps I recommend to concretely help make our Puerto Rico an AI-first destination for the theory and philosophy of Artificial Intelligence Laws

• The Office of Legislative Services should start collaborating with academia, media, and the public as soon as possible in translating key Artificial Intelligence terminology from English to Spanish. Having a universally accepted, understood, and clear Artificial Intelligence terminology from English to Spanish usage will facilitate present and future constructive dialogue by everyone for potential Artificial Intelligence laws. Likewise, the Office of Legislative Services should have a dedicated website for public commentary, suggestion, and corrections on Artificial Intelligence terminology from English to Spanish.
• Puerto Rico’s legal profession and their associations should start holding monthly informal meetings on the who, what, when, where, why, and how Puerto Rico can become an Artificial Intelligence legal innovator, creator, and influencer for Latin America; in particular in what I phrase as Artificial Intelligence Laws, a new area of study and practice of laws that adequately embrace, academically explore, and properly prepare for a tomorrow surrounded with Artificial Intelligence anywhere and everywhere.
• Puerto Rico’s law schools should encourage, support, and expand informal meet and greet Q&A’s with technologists, industry guest speakers in AI, and meetups with their judiciary on the who, what, when, where, why, and how Puerto Rico can become an Artificial Intelligence legal innovator, creator, and influencer for Latin America. Everything should be openly explored, reviewed, proposed, and debated. For example, perhaps someday Puerto Rico could be home to a future Supreme Court of Artificial Intelligence, to interpret a Universal Latin America Artificial Intelligence Charter. The future Supreme Court of Artificial Intelligence would have one supreme court justice (human) from each participating Latin American country (Chile, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, El Salvador, etc.), with a five-year term limit.
• Puerto Rico’s legal profession, government, media, and the law schools should enthusiastically jumpstart the much needed and long overdue conversation in exploring, creating, and testing a sovereign cryptocurrency to aspire for some form of Puerto Rican monetary policy mechanism, control, and independence. That perhaps could theoretically be expanded, shared, and promoted with the rest of Latin America. Legal challenges will be national (IRS, Federal Reserve, etc.), international (OPEC, International Monetary Fund, etc.), and formidable in every way. The conversation by Puerto Rico’s legal profession, government, media, and the law schools for some form of Puerto Rican monetary policy mechanism, control, and independence needs to start now. Powered by blockchain, quantum networks, and AI a future sovereign Puerto Rico cryptocurrency could show much promise in theory.
• Avvo, LegalZoom, and RocketLawyer are just the beginning of the legal profession and Artificial Intelligence merging together. Puerto Rico AI stands firmly in the belief that Puerto Rico’s legal profession, could, in theory, embrace key AI technologies to explore, design, test, and deploy a dependable, efficient, and cost-effective AI-powered legal service industry for the Spanish-speaking Latin American market.