CSCI 1953CLegal Issues in Generative AI

There are no prerequisites whatsoever for this course, any student enrolled at Brown may request to be enrolled and will be considered.

An override request form will be made available on the course website following the first class meeting on Friday and must be submitted by the end of the day of the following Monday. Override codes will be distributed by the following Wednesday evening to 20 students, prior to the second class on Friday. No additional override codes will be distributed after Wednesday. Students do not need to submit an override request through CAB at this time, nor contact the instructor by email.

Unless an assignment or activity explicitly states otherwise, you may not use generative AI tools in any capacity to complete course assignments, including during discussions and on LexFactor.

In the context of this course, “generative AI tools” include agents such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, Mistral, and other systems that generate or transform text, ideas, code, images, and other content.

Submitting AI-generated or AI-assisted work as your own may constitute a violation of the University's academic integrity policies. Therefore, the prohibition on AI use applies even if you have substantially edited, rewritten, or cited AI-generated material, as the goal of this policy is to ensure that the work you submit reflects your own thought processes and ideas. If you have questions about what tools are allowed on assignments, please ask the instructor as soon as the assignment has been introduced.

In this class, we encourage active discussion, close reading, and independent engagement with course materials. Electronic devices, including laptops, iPads/tablets, and phones, can distract from learning in the immediate environment, and studies have shown that they reduce retention. Therefore, in this class, we will use a largely paper-based notetaking and discussion format that is designed to support your attention to one another and the course material.

Electronic devices should be put away during class except where they are needed for an approved accommodation or a specific class activity that uses them. This course also values good notetaking (i.e., briefs) for outlining the key points in a court case. Please bring your notes to class in print, on paper, and use those paper notes you have prepared before class.

For each assigned reading, you should prepare a brief, comprising handwritten notes on paper outlining the key issues of the cases before class demonstrating that they have actively understood and analyzed the material. Include much of the following:

• the legal question under dispute
• the key facts of the case
• procedural history
• the relevant law(s), how those laws apply to the facts
• court holding (decision)
• any of your thoughts or questions about the case

Your notes do not need to be clean or long; the purpose of this exercise is to give you more information to bring into discussion and encourage you to engage with the material in your own words. As such, your notes should reflect only your thoughts and ideas; do not submit AI-generated notes in place of your own.

You may earn 1 point for participation in each class by submitting a clean photograph/scan of your notes to Canvas before class. Please clearly identify the case material you have chosen to take notes on. These points are meant to reward consistent preparation, demonstrating that you have taken effort to think critically about the material before coming to class. If you have an approved accommodation that makes paper-based participation difficult, please speak with the instructor to identify an alternative.

A substantial portion of the learning in this seminar takes place during class meetings, including in-class discussions. Students should participate in class by contributing to the discussion with thoughtful comments, ideally focused on the readings and the topics presented in class. Students who miss more than two classes should expect their grade to be substantially affected, as there are limited opportunities to make up missed work.

The course is expected to take 180 hours of work during the semester, comprised of weekly class, discussion reflections, readings, an assignment, LexFactor sessions, and preparation for the exam.

Discussion reflections, assignments, and LexFactor sessions submitted late will take 1% off from the course grade for each day late. For example, a LexFactor session submitted 1 day late will be able to receive at most 1 of 4 points.

Due to the nature of the course, students will encounter content about harm and other sensitive topics. Some court cases may describe events about suicide, abuse, death, in classes about chatbot liability and harm.

Brown University is committed to full inclusion of all students. Please inform me early in the term if you may require accommodations or modification of any of course procedures. You may speak with me after class, during office hours, or by appointment.

Student Accessibility Services (SAS) provides accommodations and support for undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities. To learn more or to request disability accommodations, reach out to SAS at sas@brown.edu, 401-863-9588, or visit the SAS website. If you encounter any digital materials in this course that are inaccessible, complete the Digital Accessibility Concern Reporting Form. For any accessibility or accommodation concerns, please contact the ADA/504 Coordinator at ada_504@brown.edu.

Undergraduates in need of short-term academic advice or support can contact an academic dean in the College by emailing college@brown.edu. Graduate students may contact one of the deans in the Graduate School by emailing graduate_school@brown.edu.

A grade of Incomplete will be considered only when a single requirement remains outstanding at the end of the semester, and only with a Dean's Note specifically recommending an Incomplete for good cause, together with the approval of the instructor. If that outstanding requirement is the final examination, it may be completed only in the following semester by sitting the examination for CSCI 1400, and such an arrangement is not guaranteed.