BTLJ Blog

By Sauntharya Manikandan, J.D. Class of 2027 Introduction Dark patterns. The phrase itself sounds sinister—perhaps even something out of a Star Wars movie. And while that comparison might seem playful, the reality isn’t far off. The term refers to the types of purposeful deceptive online practices that manipulate users into ...

By Kaarthika Thakker, J.D. Class of 2028 Travis, like over half a billion other people, downloaded an AI companion app, mostly out of curiosity. He never expected to fall in love, let alone have a digital wedding with his AI companion, Lily Rose. Now, he advocates for human-AI relationships: “We’re ...

By Tommaso Mambrini, LL.M. Candidate, 2026 Platforms like Robinhood, Webull, and crypto exchanges are increasingly turning financial investing into a game, using elements taken from the gambling and video game sector such as nudging, interface designs that subtly steer users toward specific actions, confetti animations that celebrate completed trades, badges ...

By Audrey Mitchell, J.D. Candidate, 2026 GenAI’s threat to authenticating evidence In June 2023, the story of Mata v. Avianca swept the nation— the first highly publicized case of AI-hallucinated citations in a brief. A multitude of hallucinated citation cases have since followed, often eclipsing their underlying cases in terms ...

By Grace Murphy, J.D. Class of 2026 Prescription drugs have a reputation for making liberal use of the patent system. However, the medications picked up at the pharmacy are not the only patent-protected products in the local drugstore. Many of the lotions, serums, and face washes that line the aisles ...

By Xiaoyun Hu, LL.M. Candidate, 2025 Introduction Nowadays, AI tools can not only generate full sentences and pictures, but can also produce voice clones using audio samples as input. Some people have used these tools to fabricate a singer ‘covering’ someone else’s song, or to replace the current dubbing of ...

By Beatriz Sampaio, LL.M. 2025 In early January 2025, Meta announced a major change to their content moderation policy: the end of their third-party fact checking in the United States. Whereas the previous strategy to address misinformation on the company’s platforms relied on centralized moderation through independent fact-checkers certified through ...

By Sauntharya Manikandan, J.D. Candidate, 2026 Introduction to Algorithmic Pricing If you are a consumer in today’s world, you have likely encountered AI algorithmic pricing. Think about the times when your Uber ride cost more due to surge pricing or when Southwest Airlines notified you about discounted tickets for a ...

By Andreia M. Tamashiro,* LL.M. 2025 *The author thanks Mr. Gary Greenstein, Partner at Wilson Sonsini, for his guidance on this post. When Taylor Swift announced she was re-recording her first six albums, she wasn’t just revisiting past hits–she was reclaiming ownership of her music. Her battle over album masters ...

By Ilke Okan LL.M., 2025 Automated decision-making technologies (ADMTs) are systems that analyze personal data to predict or decide outcomes about individuals, often without human input. These tools can determine whether someone is approved for a loan, lands a job interview, or is flagged for extra screening—all with limited transparency. ...