Publication
South by Southwest Headwinds for Tech
This week’s South by Southwest is one of the biggest tech events in the world, boasting 75,000 delegates and 5,000 speakers.
We use cookies and other similar technology to collect data about you to allow us to deliver our online services, measure our website audience and improve your browsing experience. Full details on the cookies we use are set out in our Cookies policy. Please click OK to signify your consent to our use of cookies.
You can withdraw your consent by clicking “manage cookies” and following the instructions shown.
Lawyer jobs being taken by robots is a popular media theme these days. However, after having attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) technology conference last week, I think the robots may, in fact, be needing us. In the next few years, technology will take us to a level of complexity that is almost unimaginable. That complexity will stretch our existing legal frameworks and require highly skilled lawyers to navigate outcomes.
SXSW is one of the most important technology events on the global calendar. More than 75,000 delegates descended on Austin, Texas, to hear over 5,000 speakers ranging from IT company execs, Hollywood celebrities and no less than six 2020 presidential candidates, including Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz. The big tech companies pay millions to completely transform sleepy restaurants into “Experience Spaces” to capture the eye of SXSW’s young “influencer” crowd. In fact, the event has been called the “Millennials’ Woodstock.”
The big theme from the event was the ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Eminent futurist Amy Webb was asked at the end of her session on tech trends — attended by more than 2,000 people — why she had not mentioned AI. She said the answer is simple: “AI is in everything and every industry, now and in the future.” AI was everywhere at SXSW — in sessions from healthcare, transport and finance, all the way to storytelling. So too was the concern about bias in AI, with at least six sessions dealing with this topic in whole or in part.
Publication
On December 27, 2022, the European Regulation on digital operational resilience for the financial sector was published. It entered into force on January 17, 2023 and will apply as of January 17, 2025.
Publication
In April 2021, a survey of 34 limited partnerships by the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association showed that 97% considered it important to take ESG factors into account when making investment decisions. Such a focus on ESG is partly driven by investors, suppliers, customers and local stakeholders requiring ESG to be a principal factor in the terms of any investment or contractual relationship.
Publication
The Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Foreign Subsidies Distorting the Internal Market (the FSR) entered into force on 12 January 2023 and will apply from 12 July 2023. The European Commission (EC) will soon launch a public consultation on an implementing regulation that will provide details regarding notifications, file access and other procedures under the FSR, and is setting up a sizeable taskforce to handle FSR cases.
Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest legal news, information and events...
© Norton Rose Fulbright LLP 2023