Baker McKenzie’s Taipei office has partnered with the Global Digital Delivery Alliance (GDDA) once again to host the “2024 International AI Security Forum” on 19 August 2024. Speakers from the Firm, the Taiwan government, industry associations and leading corporates were invited to discuss the challenges of implementing generative AI and managing associated security risks.
With the rapid advancement of AI technology, Taiwan has garnered significant international attention given the pivotal role it plays in the global integrated circuit technology industry and semiconductor supply chain. The global AI boom is not only boosting Taiwan’s high-tech manufacturing industries, AI transformation is well underway in Taiwan across many industries, including financial services, healthcare and life sciences. As businesses actively integrate AI to enhance competitiveness, they are facing unprecedented risk management and regulatory compliance challenges.
Speaking at the event, Anna L.J Hwang, Executive Partner and Chair of the Dispute Resolution Practice at Baker McKenzie Taiwan, commented: “AI opens up a plethora of challenges for organizations — from cyber threats, data breach, algorithmic discrimination, to intellectual property infringement, trade secrets exposure, regulatory compliance and workforce displacement — exposing them to a higher risk of disputes. Yet the legal landscape surrounding AI is just beginning to take shape, and countries are taking different approaches to regulating AI, making AI a legal minefield for businesses.”
Anna continued: “AI is also elevating ransomware attacks to a new level of sophistication, speed and scale — making organizations more vulnerable to bad actors’ ransom demands to prevent stolen data from being leaked. With AI-powered fraud showing no signs of abating, having robust cybersecurity defense mechanisms in place is paramount. Through this forum, we hope to bring our global insights and legal expertise to the doorsteps of our Taiwan-based clients. We want to share our experience of how other companies have successfully resolved their technology-related business disputes, from cross-border phishing fraud cases to sophisticated deepfake scams, with our support. Our goal is to assist our clients in navigating the evolving regulations as they develop a robust cybersecurity defense framework that focuses on early warning, emergency response, and continuous operations that can withstand the changing threat landscape to ensure business resilience.”
Partners Cyrus Vance Jr. from New York, Robert Lee from Taipei and Ryan Grant from Sydney from Baker McKenzie’s Global Cybersecurity and Dispute Resolution teams also joined the event in person. Partners Kherk Ying Chew from Kuala Lumpur, Yoshiaki Muto from Tokyo, Kate Corby from London, and Philipp Hanusch from Hong Kong; Principal Celeste Ang and Local Principal Daryl Seetoh from Singapore; and Senior Associate Gillian Lam from Hong Kong also joined the discussion virtually.
Cyrus Vance Jr., Global Chair of Baker McKenzie’s Cybersecurity Practice, said: “AI-enhanced cyber threats continue to increase globally. Threat actors continue to leverage AI for increasingly sophisticated attacks, exploiting new technologies to enable highly personalized phishing, deepfakes, social engineering, and MFA bypass, for which organizations must prepare. At the same time, the risk businesses face from litigation is changing with the proliferation of AI. Chief among them is the rapid rise of intellectual property litigations, which have emerged as one of the biggest areas for potential disputes, with claims alleging that the data used in training models has violated copyright, privacy, or similar rights restrictions.”
Ryan Grant added: “As cybersecurity continuously evolves, so does the technology that powers it. AI is playing a crucial role in both defending against and perpetrating cyberattacks. AI is not a new concept to cybersecurity but its recent democratization has meant that both attacks and threat detection have become more sophisticated – leading to somewhat of an arms race.”
Ryan continued: “As a sub-set of generative AI, large language models (LLM), with their remarkable capabilities in understanding and generating human-like text, have transformed organizations’ ability to generate insights, including in relation to organizational cybersecurity. LLM is arming both threat actors and security teams with the incredible power to sift large amounts of data into actionable insights through simple queries. But the effectiveness of the LLM will only be as good as the access to large-scale, accurate and contextually relevant data for training and refining purposes. Anything short of using good quality training data could expose organizations to various risks, including impaired decision-making and compliance risks.”
Robert Lee commented: “Taiwan has made significant progress in AI governance in recent years, with the release of various guidelines governing the use of AI in research and development, medical devices and financial services, to most recently the “Draft of AI Basic Law.” Recognizing the wide-ranging societal impact AI has, Taiwan’s approach to AI is rooted in human-centric values, for example, with the government taking the lead in safeguarding labor rights amid the rapid adoption of AI. This principle suggests that workforce management will become a crucial consideration for businesses, and the ability to reskill and upskill people with AI skills will be key to building a future-proof workforce and staying competitive.”
The forum, which took place at the NCCU Public & Business Administration Education Center in Taipei, also featured the following speakers:
- Yennun Huang, Minister, Ministry of Digital Affairs
- Chi-Kung Ho, Convener, National Science & Technology Council, Technology Policy Consultation Expertise Management and Communication Platform
- Yvonne Chiu, Chair, Global Digital Delivery Alliance
- Jong-Chin Shen, Vice Chair, China Development Financial Holding Corp.
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