Professor Anthony Niblett, Blue J Legal co-founder, assumed inaugural role on Jan. 1
A gift from Donald Harrison, Google’s president for global partnerships and corporate development, has established a chair focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and technology at the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law.
According to a news release from the University of Toronto, the chair named after its benefactor, Don Harrison, supports research exploring the ways AI and technology may impact the law and the legal profession.
Harrison said the endowed chair ensures researchers rigorously delve into AI’s humanistic and legal implications.
“AI is evolving from a specialized, technical field into a foundational technology that has the potential to reshape how we live, work, learn, and grow as a society,” he said in the news release. “AI requires significant investment to harness its potential, allowing innovation while making sure our legal, ethical and social frameworks keep pace with its development.”
He added that AI can help people draft wills, navigate minor court matters, and access other legal services previously unavailable to them, thereby promoting access to justice.
“We are profoundly thankful to Donald Harrison for his visionary commitment in establishing this endowed chair,” said Jutta Brunnée, university professor and the law school’s dean, in the news release. “His generosity strengthens our research leadership position in the rapidly changing landscape of law and technology.”
Harrison, who obtained his LLB from the University of Toronto in 1997, highlighted the institution’s recognition for its efforts to develop neural networks and deep learning, specifically through the work of Geoffrey Hinton, university professor emeritus of computer science at U of T and Nobel Prize winner.
“U of T’s Faculty of Law is a natural nexus to convene diverse, interdisciplinary perspectives and act as forum where technology, economic incentive, public policy and fundamental rights can be debated, and ultimately translated into practices that help this technology achieve its promise,” he said.
Harrison commenced his legal career at Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto. He began working at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, California, in 2000. He helped Google go public before fully joining the tech company in 2005.
He oversees Google’s strategic partnerships across its product and business groups and its corporate development division, which deals with the company’s acquisitions and investments worldwide.
Among other significant transactions, Harrison helped with the acquisition of DNN Research – the neural networks start-up established by Hinton and two of his graduate students – and DeepMind.
Anthony Niblett – a U of T professor who holds the Canada research chair in law, economics, and innovation – has assumed the new AI and technology chair as of Jan. 1. His research interests include AI, innovation, contract law, competition policy, and judicial behaviour.
“As the inaugural chairholder, Anthony is uniquely equipped to advance our thinking around law and technology and its implications for society as well as the legal profession,” Brunnée said. “This chair serves as a catalyst for innovation.”
“You need good legal institutions to encourage innovation. How do you use law and policy to foster new technology that benefits everyone in society? How do you use the law to control new technology? And how to use new technology to improve the law? These questions affect everything I think about,” Niblett added in the news release.
A decade ago, Niblett co-founded Blue J Legal, an AI software for tax research. Led by two US venture capital firms, the company raised $167 million in funding last summer.
