Here’s the kitchen sink for December 6, 2024 of ten stories that I didn’t get to this week – with another brand-new meme from Gates Dogfish!

Why “the kitchen sink”? Find out here! 🙂

The Kitchen Sink is even better when you can include a brand-new eDiscovery meme courtesy of Gates Dogfish, the meme channel dedicated to eDiscovery people and created by Aaron Patton of Trustpoint.One (which is a partner of eDiscovery Today!). For more great eDiscovery memes, follow Gates Dogfish on LinkedIn here! Can that email response be considered attorney work product? Asking for a friend. 🤣

Here is the kitchen sink for December 6, 2024 of ten stories that I didn’t get to this week, with a comment from me about each:

Innovating Securely: Considering Confidentiality in AI Applications: This has come up a couple of times in conversations I’ve had this week, so Rob Robinson’s post on it is timely. Speaking of Rob, his Fall 2024 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey is still open, please consider taking the survey here!

The Power of Project Management: Using the 80/20 Rule in E-Discovery: I’m a big believer in the 80/20 rule of project management and who better to talk about it than the guy who literally wrote the book on eDiscovery project management, Mike Quartararo on the ACEDS blog? Nobody – that’s who. 😁

New website shows you how much Google AI can learn from your photos: A provider of an alternate site for storing photos to Google Photos (for those who are rightly concerned about Google using your photos to train its AI) developed a second site titled “Theyseeyourphotos” where you can upload a photo to turn Google’s technology against itself by letting you see what Google sees in your photos. Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), Google isn’t very happy with them. 🤣

Why Law Firms Can’t Help but Bill by the Hour: The author says law firms “should really be called ‘lawyer firms,’ because that’s what they consist of and what they’re organized around.” Which is why the “billable hour is the fundamental expression of the lawyer’s existence in the firm.” Which is why the billable hour probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

GPT-4 Breakthrough: Emerging Theory of Mind Capabilities in AI: Another interesting and thought-provoking story by Ralph Losey on the EDRM blog. This one discusses experiments by a well-known researcher involving tests of ChatGPT4.0 on ‘false belief tasks,’ a classic measure of “theory of mind” (ToM) where participants must predict an agent’s actions based on its incorrect beliefs. These tasks reveal AI’s surprising ability to infer human mental states, a skill traditionally considered uniquely human.

Emerging Data Sources, Alternative Data Sources, Off-Channel Data – What is the Difference?: I love weekly posts by Ari Kaplan on the ACEDS blog! This time, he “reKaps” (😉) a recent webinar for ACEDS, which you can watch here, about how complex data sources from social media, cloud storage, and Internet of Things (IoT) tools (among others) differ from traditional records. It’s all data now, people.

OpenAI announces full “o1” reasoning model, $200 ChatGPT Pro tier: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a “12 days of OpenAI” period starting December 5, which will unveil new AI features and products for 12 consecutive weekdays. Here’s the first one: a new tier of ChatGPT with higher usage limits for $200 a month and the full version of “o1”. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

Keeping the Temperature Just Right for Effective eDiscovery Negotiations: The Hon. Ralph Artigliere (ret.) has provided Key Steps for Effective eDiscovery Negotiation™ on the EDRM blog, which provide a slew of great tips on best practices for eDiscovery negotiations. Terrific read!

Teenagers leading new wave of cybercrime: According to the FBI, the average age of someone arrested for cybercrime is 19 vs. 37 for any crime. Of course, AI is playing a factor in that new wave as well. Sigh.

Authentication of Surveillance Video by Lay Witness Under Silent Witness Doctrine: Another great case covered by Michael Berman on the EDRM blog involving authentication testimony by a Walmart asset protection manager on Walmart store surveillance video purportedly showing the defendant with his co-defendant and the victim, shortly before the victim disappeared.

One last sad note: Carolee Byrley, a member of the eDiscovery community who was a fixture on weekly EDRM support calls passed away back on October 29th. Despite the challenges she faced the past few years, Carolee managed to be consistently upbeat with a good sense of humor and was quick to reach out to others to offer support in their challenges. The EDRM blog has a wonderful tribute to Carolee here.

One example of that sense of humor and irony is one of the best comments I’ve ever received on a blog post, which inspired me to write a follow-up blog post. Both are discussed here.

Carolee was also devoted to her rescue dogs. Please consider donating to your local dog rescue organization in her name or to a shelter supported by the San Diego Paralegal Association’s Virtual Lunch with Leaders community, of which Carolee was a regular participant.

Hope you enjoyed the kitchen sink for December 6, 2024! Back next week with another edition!

So, what do you think? Is this useful as an end of the week wrap-up? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Image Copyright © 20th Television Animation

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the authors and speakers themselves, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.