The pace of generative AI development (and hype) over the past year has been intense, and difficult even for us experienced librarians, masters of information that we are, to follow. Not only is there a constant stream of new products, but also new academic papers, blog posts, newsletters, and more, from people evaluating, experimenting with, and critiquing those products. With that in mind, I’m sharing my favorites, and I’ll also pepper in a few recommendations from my co-bloggers.
Before Twitter began its slow decline, it was one of my primary sources for professional connection, and there are many there who are exploring generative AI. I especially enjoy following people outside of the legal world. Many of my favorites are still there, like Ethan Mollick, Anna Mills, and Lance Eaton (all in higher education) as well as critical AI theorists like Timnit Gibru and Emily Bender.
Despite the good bits that remain on Twitter, many interesting legal tech discussions seem to have moved to LinkedIn (or perhaps I’ve only recently found them there). Some of my favorites to follow on LinkedIn (in no particular order beyond how I’m running across them as I scroll) are: Nicole Black, Sam Harden, Alex Smith, Cat Moon, Damien Riehl, Dennis Kennedy, Uwais Iqbal, Ivy Grey, Robert Ambrogi, Cat Casey, Nicola Shaver, Adam Ziegler, and Michael Bommarito. Both Bob Ambrogi and Nicola Shaver recently had posts gathering legal tech luminaries to follow, so I would recommend checking out those posts and the comments to find more interesting folks. And if anyone else has figured out the LinkedIn etiquette for connecting vs. following someone you only know via other social media, please let me know.
Newsletters
Most of us have many (many, many) newsletters filling our inbox each day. Here are some favorites.
Jenny:
- AI in Education – a Google group
- Lawyer Ex Machina – from law librarian Eli Edwards, on legal technology, law practice and selected issues around big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, social media and more affecting both the substance and the business of law (weekly)
- The Neuron – AI news, tools, and how-to
- The Brainyacts – from Josh Kubicki, insight & tips on generative AI use in legal services (daily)
Rebecca:
- One Useful Thing – from Ethan Mollick, mostly on AI in higher ed (weekly)
- Do Something – from Sam Harden, on legal tech, often from a small firm and access to justice angle
- Legal Tech Trends – legal tech links, podcast, articles, products, along with original pieces (every two weeks or so)
- KnowItAALL – this daily newsletters is a benefit for members of AALL (American Association of Law Libraries), but it is also available to non-members for a fee; great coverage of legal AI, I read it every day
- AI Law Librarians – is it gauche to recommend our own blog? You can subscribe as a newsletter if you like!
Sean:
- The Run Down – AI news, tools and tutorials (daily)
- Superpower Daily – AI news & tools (daily)
- Ben’s Bites – AI product launches & news (daily)
- The Algorithmic Bridge – in-depth pieces about AI news, thoughts, and research every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
- The Gradient Pub – accessible but technically informed overviews of the state of the art and its future, and critical and well-informed perspectives on artificial intelligence topics by researchers and experts in the field.
- AI Tool Report – AI news & tools (daily)
Podcasts
There are loads of podcasts on AI, but here are a few we follow:
- AI Chat (Sarah) – ChatGPT & AI news
- AI Lawyer Talking Tech (Sarah) – created by law librarian Greg Lambert, this podcast is completely AI-generated, and covers legal tech, with many stories on generative AI; it also links to a daily roundup of news articles
- Geek in Review (Rebecca) – run by two law librarians
Blogs & Websites
We’re bloggers, we like blogs. Traditional media can be ok, too, although mind the paywall.
- Lexis 360 Pulse: Legal Tech ($) (Sarah) – or get it as a newsletter here
- Above the Law’s legal tech coverage (Sarah)
- Chronicle of Higher Education ($) (Rebecca) – lots of work happening here on how generative AI will impact education (I like to search within for “ChatGPT”); you can also sign up for a daily update with headlines and trending stories
- 3 Geeks and a Law Blog (Rebecca) – many law librarian contributors, and they frequently blog about AI
- Business Insider (Jenny) – less techie, more news
- Forbes’s AI Section (Jenny) – corporate AI-oriented
- Geeky Gadgets (Jenny) – a technology news site that publishes a lot on AI, including “how to use” articles
- MIT News (Jenny) – general technology news on a wide variety of issues. AI shows up regularly. More technical, so may need to look at subtypes of AI, like machine learning
- TechCrunch (Jenny) – often where I see developments break first
- Unite AI – AI news aggregator. Some articles are on the technie side
- Wired – has a nice database you can search
YouTube
Sean also mentioned that much of the interesting stuff is on YouTube, but that it is fairly high-effort because many of the videos are an hour long, or more. Maybe we’ll convince him to share some of his favorite videos soon in a future post!
A Few LibGuides
If you still need more, here are a few libguides:
- Jenny’s AI Resources – from one of your bloggers, Jenny Wondracek
- Villanova University Law – Technology for Legal Practice – this page on “Keeping Up” has many great suggestions
- University of Arizona Law Library’s Guide – articles on many topics, also collects types of software
- For even more, try searching using keywords libguide, law, and generative AI
What about you?
Who are your favorites to follow on social media? Are there helpful newsletters, blogs, podcasts, or anything else that we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.
Hey just here to say thanks for including my Substack! I’d add the blog https://www.aiweirdness.com/ by AI researcher Janelle Shane. Her book “You Look Like a Thing and I Love You” is fantastic.
Thank you! I have run into a few of her things before, but somehow was not subscribed. That is fixed. A lot of weird stuff out there, and she makes it so entertaining. I need to read the book too.
I guess these are mainstream, but https://www.lawnext.com/ and https://www.legaltechmonitor.com/
You also might want to add this blog to the list so if people copy and paste it, ailawlibrarians will be on there.
Oh wow, this is a great list, Rebecca!
Thank you for writing this post!