ABSTRACT
Technology has reshaped and continues to refine and rebrand human innovations. Artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and augmented reality are all technological inventions that have both positive and negative impacts globally. This paper underscores the meaning and emergence of artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and augmented reality as legal frontiers in media and telecommunication law, the pivotal role they would play, and their probable effect.
INTRODUCTION
Media and telecommunication play important roles in every given society. They are tools used for democracy and a medium for disseminating information or media related things, the importance of media and telecommunication can never be overemphasized, owing to the fact that the media is not only a medium for disseminating information, but also a conduit pipe through which citizens express their opinions, and a means through which the governed gets heard, which is ingrained in conventional laws of various states respectively.[1]
However, there are certain laws governing the media and telecommunications. These laws are called press laws[2] they include; defamation laws, law of sedition, contempt of courts, copyright laws, etc.[3] These laws are being regulated by various legal frameworks in Nigeria, such as the Nigerian Communication Act, Advertising Law, Artificial Intelligence, augmented reality, and deepfakes, would make both positive and negative impacts in the legal profession.
Artificial Intelligence is a familiar term to both legal practitioners and laymen. However, terms like Deepfakes and Augmented reality raises more questions as to what they truly represent.
- Deepfakes: Deepfakes are a type of artificial media produced by manipulating or fabricating visual and audio content using deep learning techniques, specifically generative adversarial networks (GANs) and autoencoders.[4] It mostly involves altering or superimposing a person’s photo or video and changing it to a lifelike image that looks real from the original content itself.
- Augmented Reality: Augmented reality (AR) is a modified version of the real world, achieved through the use of technology. AR uses apps, consoles, screens, and projections to overlay or combine digital information with real-world environments.[5]
IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DEEPFAKES, AND AUGMENTED REALITY IN MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION
Artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm, and it continues to assert its relevance. It has enhanced human activities and has been deployed in various fields, including the legal profession. AI can be used in the legal profession by reducing the workload of legal professionals, judges, and students through automation, legal research, communicating with clients, and managing intellectual property. This means that Artificial Intelligence can be used both in courtrooms and chambers of lawyers. For example, large language models (LLM) These models are built upon vast amounts of text data and are trained to understand, generate, and manipulate human language with remarkable fluency.[6]
Large language model is a generative AI that can be used in client and solicitor interaction, especially when it comes to client interviews and counselling, where the client does not speak English. LLM can be used to manipulate the client’s spoken words from the language he understands to English fluently, and it can also be used to interpret spoken English to the client in the language he understands, in order to have an effective client and solicitor interaction.
These large language models include GPT-4 and Claude Sonnet 3.5. Note that the fluency and accuracy of such translation depend on the language itself. It may be accurate in languages like French, German, and Portuguese, but not completely accurate in the major native languages we speak in Nigeria.Technology is ever advancing, and it would surely address the issue.
Artificial intelligence can also be used to automate the work of justices, lawyers, and clients to have a swift dispensation of justice and immersive outcomes of judicial activities, and increase efficiency.Using Artificial intelligence to automate activities in the legal profession, justices will not have to write judgments using their hands while proceedings are ongoing. Automatic speech recognition and speech-to-text AI technologies can be used to transcribe spoken words into writing[7].
Lawyers can also invent chatbots that can be used to communicate with their clients so that clients won’t necessarily have to go to the offices of their lawyers to brief them. These will definitely reduce the cost of litigation and facilitate easier access to justice.
DISADVANTAGES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS AN EMERGING LEGAL FRONTIER IN MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION
Artificial intelligence has its pros and cons. Although artificial intelligence may make work easier, it also has probable effects. One of the effects of artificial intelligence is when it comes to intellectual property, which has to do with authorship of a particular copyright made by artificial intelligence, it does not get protection because they do not satisfy the human author requirement[8].
Excessive dependence on Artificial Intelligence could lead to complacency; it can also lead to people being sluggish and lazy in carrying out their respective tasks. Simply put, it may result to difficulty In finding inventions in the future that have human authorship. Heavy reliance on artificial intelligence may bedevil human creativity and innovation.
IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES OF DEEPFAKES AS AN EMERGING LEGAL FRONTIER IN MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION
While the use of generative AI and Deepfakes poses a serious threat globally, it also has it importance and application in various sectors.[9] Deepfakes can also be used in the legal sector, and the question begging to be asked is, how can it be utilized? Deepfakes can be used in communicating with dysarthric and deaf clients whose mode of communication is restricted to gestures and writing. The use of Deepfakes can make it hyper-realistic in a way that it would appear as if the person speaking is real. This will bridge a good communication gap between clients with such disabilities and lawyers.
DISADVANTAGES OF DEEPFAKES AS AN EMERGING LEGAL FRONTIER IN MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION
Deepfakes can cause misleading results, creating a likeness of a person. In 2019, a deepfake of Kim Kardashian that was circulating online was removed by YouTube on the grounds of copyright infringement.[10] People rely heavily on information, and one of the negative effects deepfakes have had is that they raise questions of trust and perception, which makes some people not believe things they come across online. Deepfakes can be used to make seditious content which may cause uproar and unrest within the masses in a democratic society. Using Nigeria as a case study, we may see a deepfake of the president making a statement that some might believe, which could result to societal unrest.
AUGMENTED REALITY AS AN EMERGING LEGAL FRONTIER IN MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION
The emergence of augmented reality as a legal frontier can be utilized in the legal profession in numerous ways, because it has to do with overlaying digital information into real life experience or superimposing them. Hence, augmented reality can be used to reconstruct a crime scene where there is no direct evidence linking and accused person to the crime he has allegedly committed. This means that augmented reality can be used in instances that have to do with circumstantial evidence to give justices a better pictorial representation of crime scenes. Augmented reality can also be used in legal education and client consultation by making virtual simulations that will envision the subject matter of what is being discussed.
DISADVANTAGES OF AUGMENTED REALITY
AR may in some circumstances, cause infringement on inventions made by people, which may lead to copyright infringement. This is because augmented reality gives a real-world experience of digital information, and where the option of employing it in any given scenario is being explored, it is likely to record copyrighted materials, which would lead to copyright infringement.[11]
It may also lead to a breach of data privacy during usage where it provides confidential information without authorization. There is also a possibility of it providing incorrect and inaccurate data, which may distract or mislead people into acting on wrong information. this may happen in instances where it is used, especially in legal education, where there is digital information overlayed in projectors and provides a wrong result.
RECOMMENDATION
The importance of generative artificial intelligence instruments can never be overemphasized. although in the opinion of this writer, deepfakes tend to have a negative impact than a positive one, it should also be used in good faith where the need arises, like the circumstances described in this work. However, it is the humble opinion of this writer that artificial intelligence and augmented reality should be used more often, as they are a part of the emerging legal frontiers in media and telecommunication. The reason for my opinion is not far-fetched. It is untenable that Artificial intelligence is here to stay, so we should embrace it and use it judiciously in various fields of the legal profession, from classrooms to courtrooms.
CONCLUSION
Many opine that technology will take over the world and perhaps lead to people losing their jobs. This is opinionated from the fear of the advancement of technology because it has made an indelible impact on various activities globally. The use of Artificial Intelligence, Deepfakes, and Augmented Reality in media and telecommunication will enhance activities that transpire within the legal sector, as elaborately put in this work.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Augmented Reality (AR): Definition, Examples, and Uses by Adam Hayes
- Augmented Reality and Law – Filevine
- Augmented Reality and Law by Franziska Roesner, Tadayoshi Kohno, Tamara Denning, Ryan Calo and Bryce Clayton Newell
- By Aondover Eric Msughter, Lawal Umar Maradun, Hadiza Mustapha Namadi 2021
- Freedom of expression, press and censorship in the 19th century in Europe and USA, sections 22 & 39 CFRN
- K Hristov, ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Copyright Dilemma’ IDEA: The IP Law Review (2017) (57) (3)https://ssrn.com/abstract=2976428accessed 26 February 2024 Can Deepfakes Be Used For Good? By Gabe Regan.
- Large language models DOI:1007/978-3-031-82062-5_5 In book: Generative AI:Techniques, Models and Applications (pp.81-102 by Rajip Gupta and Sanjay Tiwari.
- Media Law and Ethics in Nigeria: Issues, Principles and Practices
- Media regulations in nigeria: the roadblocks to freedom of the press 1 Bello Madaki Beli and 2ashiru Tukur Inuwa
- Review of Speech-to-Text Recognition Technology for Enhancing Learning
- Rustam Shadiev1, Wu-Yuin Hwang2, Nian-Shing Chen3 and Yueh-Min Huang1
- Unraveling Reality: The Impact of Deepfakes on Trust and Perception by Usha Kosarkar and Anupam Chaube
REFERENCES
[1] Freedom of expression, press and censorship in the 19th century in Europe and USA, sections 22 & 39 CFRN[2] Media Law and Ethics in Nigeria: Issues, Principles and Practices By Aondover Eric Msughter, Lawal Umar Maradun, Hadiza Mustapha Namadi 2021
[3] media regulations in nigeria: the roadblocks to freedom of the press 1 Bello Madaki Beli and 2ashiru Tukur Inuwa
[4] Unraveling Reality: The Impact of Deepfakes on Trust and Perception by Usha Kosarkar and Anupam Chaube
[5] Augmented Reality (AR): Definition, Examples, and Uses by Adam Hayes
[6] Large language models DOI:10.1007/978-3-031-82062-5_5 In book: Generative AI: Techniques, Models and Applications (pp.81-102 by Rajip Gupta and Sanjay Tiwari.
[7] Review of Speech-to-Text Recognition Technology for Enhancing Learning Rustam Shadiev1, Wu-Yuin Hwang2, Nian-Shing Chen3 and Yueh-Min Huang1*
[8] K Hristov, ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Copyright Dilemma’ IDEA: The IP Law Review(2017) (57) (3)https://ssrn.com/abstract=2976428accessed 26 February 2024
[9] Can Deepfakes Be Used For Good? By Gabe Regan.
[10] Tiffany C LI, Kim Kardashian v. Deepfakes, SLATE (June 18, 2019), Augmented Reality and Law – Filevine
[11] Augmented Reality and Law by Franziska Roesner, Tadayoshi Kohno, Tamara Denning, Ryan Calo and Bryce Clayton Newell
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABDULWAHAB UZAIR is a law student at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is a passionate student, legal researcher, and legal writer committed to continuous growth and self-development in the legal field.