The chief legal officer of Immuta and a career data scientist are now in the business of helping companies understand the technical and legal risks of using artificial intelligence.

Immuta's Andrew Burt partnered with Patrick Hall, who spent much of his career developing artificial intelligence platforms, to create the Washington, D.C.-based BNH.AI.

"Patrick and I have spent the last several years involved in the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence," said Burt, who is managing partner of the firm.

Burt explained that companies have had issues in the past of bringing in the right lawyer with the right technologist to fill the gaps in artificial intelligence implementation. He said that is where BNH.AI can show its value.

With artificial intelligence implementation, there are issues in which only technologists and data scientists can find solutions. Hall, the principal scientist at BNH.AI, explained the most difficult, though fixable, include algorithmic discrimination and transparency. Hall said, because of research over the past couple of years and open source software, many of those issues can be easily fixed.

"I can help mitigate risk and discrimination," Hall explained. "The question that is left is: 'Is this legal?'"

There are no laws on the federal level governing the use of artificial intelligence yet. However, there are state and local municipality laws governing its usage. Last year, Illinois lawmakers passed the Illinois Video Interview Act, which requires employers to notify applicants that artificial intelligence is being used to analyze the interview. Burt and Hall said new legislation on artificial intelligence will be passed in the future.

"I like to bring up the example that the Dutch government shut down a machine learning system for the first time," Hall said. "That is important because some of the companies we work with may be international and those regulations could make their way to the U.S."

Burt said companies also need to consider how data is used in artificial intelligence and any data privacy laws that impact their business.

"I am under the belief that the biggest barriers [to artificial intelligence] are not technical. They all arise in the form of liability. I see this joint partnership as one largely helping companies manage liability," Burt explained.

Clients and Size

Hall and Burt did not name specific clients they've worked with during the first weeks of the firm. They did say their clients range from small companies to "extremely large corporations."

"The one thing they have in common is that they're well into the process of investing in AI," Burt explained. "They're starting to realize there is a growing list of liabilities from all of these investments."

Burt said they plan on expanding the number of employees, both attorneys and data scientists, organically.

"We want to be boutique and a source of concentrated expertise," Burt said. "For now, our focus is on helping organizations understand these issues."

Location Matters 

Burt, who will remain CLO at Immuta, said the firm has to be based in Washington, D.C. because it is the only place in the country where nonattorneys can partially own a law firm.

The District of Columbia Bar's Rule 5.4(B) states "a lawyer may practice law in a partnership or other form of organization in which a financial interest is held or managerial authority is exercised by an individual nonlawyer who performs professional services which assist the organization in providing legal services to clients."

The strategic advantage of being in D.C., he explained, is being close to where national data privacy and artificial intelligence laws are created.