Warning! The First Amendment Gives us a Right to Cause Addiction in Teens By Garrett Handegan On May 25, 2019, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) officially voted to include video game addiction, otherwise known as “gaming disorder,” as a behavioral addiction.[1] While the American Psychiatric Association says that the issue of video games being addictive is still being debated, they admit that early evidence shows not only are they addictive, but that they are potentially one of the most addicting technologies around.[2] Not only are they addictive, they are intentionally designed to be s ..read more

Beyond Name, Image, Likeness: Voice Protection By Jack Sherwood Artificial Intelligence has been used in the music industry for decades. As early as 2004, AI audio modulation was introduced by Yamaha to synthesize melodic vocals.[1] Even in the 2010s, AI was used to enhance the audio of voice actors who no longer had the same vocal delivery, such as the likes of James Earl Jones.[2] 20 years later, AI has evolved from simply integrating and enhancing vocal audio to composing and producing an entire Drake song from a 250-word instruction text, one that Drake himself never touched.[3] While Dra ..read more

AI Attorneys – Why Bother Going to Law School? By: L. Michelle Ugalde   With the rapid advancement and integration of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) across all career fields, the fear of virtual replacement is becoming all the more omnipresent. But is this fear justified? For attorneys, the consensus is split. While all recognize that AI is undoubtedly entering the legal field, the divide is between those who are embracing this new incorporation, and those who reject it. It seems that as time progresses, the feelings of the latter are becoming stronger. The fear of AI replacement has beg ..read more

Joan Is Awful: A Petition for Federal Personality Rights Legislation By Kathryn Threatt Background: In June of 2023, Netflix premiered season 6 of the beloved and haunting series, Black Mirror.[1] The star-filled first episode entitled, Joan Is Awful, is the tale of an everyday woman, Joan, whose life will soon be streamed by millions of viewers on the fictionalized version of Netflix, Streamberry. So, you might be wondering how such a thing happens. Well Joan, unbeknownst to her, signs away her personality rights.[2] Personality rights are loosely defined as “the right of an individual to co ..read more

AI Benefits When Fashion Lacks Copyright Protections By Kaitlyn Dobbins Generally, copyright protections do not protect much in the fashion industry.[1] Fashion designers can find copyright protections only for those elements of their work that are a separable pictorial, image, or graphic.[2] Essentially, if the work of art can be conceptually separable (independently recognized) from the piece of clothing, it can be protected.[3] Consequently, design elements like common patterns, common colors, or cuts of fabric will not be protected by copyright law.[4] Even if these items have qualifying ..read more

You Can’t Spell “Agriculture” Without “AI” By Avery S. Younis In a world of rapidly advancing technology, it is no surprise that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made a home for itself in the agriculture industry. While technology may be at the forefront of our minds, food still has a monopoly on our stomachs. The population has doubled since 1974—there are over 8 billion humans to feed on this planet.[1] With growing numbers of people and rising concerns about resources, we are faced with an efficiency dilemma: how do we increase agricultural production without straining our environment? One ..read more

The Sony Defense, Grokster Limitation, and a (Nintendo) Switch-Up? By Eleni Paraskevopoulos If you’re a fan of video games, you may be familiar with the concept of emulators.  An emulator is a computer program or device that enables a computer system to function like another device.[1] Imagine you suddenly have the urge to relive the experience of playing “Mario Kart: Double Dash!!” on the GameCube, but you don’t have access to a working GameCube. With an emulator, that wouldn’t be a problem. Emulators are not exclusive to video game consoles.[2] Software developers often use emulators t ..read more

The Kids Online Safety Act, and the Concerns It Might Face By Caroline Kropka On February 15, 2024, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) finally passed the Senate with over 60 backers.[1] The bill, which was first introduced by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in 2022, seeks to–in the Senators’ words–”protect children online and hold Big Tech accountable.”[2] In particular, KOSA purports to target social media and the harmful effects it can have on children.[3] KOSA would cover Internet-connected online platforms, video games, messaging apps, and video streami ..read more

TikTok Brain: Can We Save Children’s Attention Spans? By Nathan Crispo The Facebook, now just Facebook, launched in February of 2004.[1]  It took just one day for the site to get over one thousand users.[2]  As of 2024, Facebook has more than three billion monthly users and over two billion daily users.[3]  While Facebook is one of the earliest social media platforms that is still widely used today,[4] it is far from alone in having billions of users.  As of January 2024, at least six different social media platforms have more than one billion users.[5]  Social media ..read more

Video Game Consolidation is Likely to Continue By Garrett Handegan Video game companies are consolidating at a rapid pace. In 2014 Microsoft acquired Mojang, best known for creating Minecraft.[1] In 2018 Microsoft acquired five new studios: Undead Labs, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, and Compulsion games.[2] In 2020 Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media, a video game holding company responsible for producing some of the most popular video game experiences in the market.[3] In January of 2022 Microsoft announced its intent to buy Activision Blizzard.[4] Activision Blizzard is a company responsible ..read more