A Potentially Shifting Regulatory Agenda in 2025

Expect an increased focus on AI and cybersecurity issues, the ability of the FCC to make and enforce policy top the list of likely changes in the new year.
Between the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright and the presence of a new administration, priorities will shift. But the need for reliable communications, irrespective of underlying technologies, particularly as impacts public safety and security, remains essential.

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AI Needs to Reduce Errors – Or Everyone Will Pay the Price

As litigators begin to go after AI systems and those that deploy them, every human in the technology-deployment chain must carefully consider how much an AI-sponsored error is worth.
I have yet to meet anyone who enjoys being in direct communication with an AI tool. AI-augmented CX systems may provide some efficiencies, but those efficiencies often translate into high levels of customer dissatisfaction. With this in mind, and studies of various flavors indicating that AI is a low trust technology, it’s important for anyone considering the deployment of highly advanced and seemingly sophisticated AI-based products and services to consider the downside(s). A systematic deep dive in the cost-benefit analysis is a wise idea, particularly given the fact that the AI bar is just revving up.

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What the EU AI Act Means for the Enterprise, Wherever It’s Located

In the same way entities that access, process, and hold data belonging to individuals or entities are held accountable under GDPR rules, these new EU AI rules will also apply to entities far beyond the boundaries of the EU itself.
Why should you pay attention to the European Union’s groundbreaking and world-leading take on AI regulation? Because enterprise communications are global and what happens in one country may affect an enterprise somewhere else. The information here, I hope, will provide at least some very important direction and general information about the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act. We examined this act in December 2023, but I want to use this post to expand and explain on some key provisions that affect enterprise communications technology professionals.

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What to Expect With the New Federal Communications Commission

It is not a surprise that President-Elect Donald Trump has chosen current FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to chair the FCC in his administration. Carr has been a sitting—and vocal--commissioner and is the most senior Republican on the FCC, having served in this capacity since 2017. Should he be confirmed, he will come to the role with many years of experience as an attorney practicing before the FCC, then as an aide to former Commissioner Ajit Pai.  After a six-month as Pai’s aide, Carr was nominated by the former President Trump and approved by the Senate as an FCC Commissioner in 2018.  His nomination was approved for two successive five-year terms in both 2018 and 2023.  Carr certainly knows his way around the agency, for better or worse.

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The Dawn of AI Litigation: What CCaas and UCaaS Implementors Need to Know

While most vendors position themselves as the invisible layer facilitating customer communications for their clients, they’re about to find out their data-handling policies may bring them new visibility.
As AI continues to be deployed, it’s only reasonable to assume that litigation around its use will become morecommon. We are at the dawn of the age where cases based on some form of AI-generated outcomes will provide the basis for a litigable cause of action. There is also a very hungry group of class action lawyers looking to jump on the next big fertile area of profitable litigation. In any case, it’s time to consider the legal vulnerabilities that are likely to be associated with AI use—particularly in the UCaaS and CCaaS spaces so that entities deploying these tools do so with their eyes open.

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