Generative AI in Academia: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities Beyond IP

  • Panel
  • Class Room
  • Thursday 22.05 — 10:30 - 11:45

Organising Institution

Haifa Center for Law & Technology, University of Haifa

Israel

The Haifa Center for Law and Technology (HCLT) is a renowned interdisciplinary research institute. It is the first center in Israel dedicated to the study of the interconnection between law and technology. HCLT is based at the Faculty of Law, University of Haifa on the northern coast of Israel. The main goal of the center is to promote research activities in the fields of Law and Technology and Intellectual Property. HCLT further seeks to promote dialogue between academics, innovators, policymakers and businesses, in order to establish the scientific foundation for legislation to address new technologies. The center conducts workshops and conferences, and promotes research activities by faculty and students, judges, lawyers, jurists, decision makers and the general public. With ​​five full time faculty members, three full time faculty fellows, international visiting professors and a group of adjunct faculty, HCLT offers a wide range of courses and seminars in Intellectual Property, AI, Cyberlaw, Law and Innovation, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Cybersecurity Law, Big Data, and Information Law at graduate and post graduate level. Graduate programs include a unique LL.​M. program in Law and Technology.​
  • Academic 5
  • Policy 1
Generative AI is reshaping academia, influencing research, teaching, and governance. This panel examines the transformative impact of AI on scholarly writing, including its potential to empower non-native speakers and early-career academics, alongside concerns about authenticity and cognitive skill erosion. Panelists will address critical issues of bias, reliability, and scholarly integrity, exploring the implications for peer review and research transparency. They will discuss the importance of cultivating comprehensive AI literacy within academia, highlighting ethical preparedness and responsiveness to regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act. Additionally, the panel will explore the divide between theoretical academic AI research and operational AI applications, offering strategies for effectively bridging this gap. The discussion aims to provide actionable insights for responsibly integrating generative AI, balancing innovation with accountability and academic rigor.

Questions to be answered

  1. Authorship and Authenticity: How should academia redefine authorship in light of generative AI’s role in drafting scholarly work? Can such tools genuinely empower underrepresented voices, or do they risk flattening individual academic expression?
  2. Cognitive Delegation and Skill Retention: Where should academia draw the line between leveraging AI for efficiency and preserving the cultivation of critical thinking, creativity, and argumentative nuance among scholars and students?
  3. Bias, Verification, and Academic Standards: What mechanisms must be put in place to ensure the integrity of AI-assisted research, particularly in peer review and publication processes, given the persistent risks of hallucinations and embedded biases?
  4. Literacy, Ethics, and Regulation: How can academic institutions meaningfully foster AI literacy that includes not just technical competence but also ethical awareness—especially in light of regulatory developments such as the EU AI Act?

Moderator

Tal Zarsky

Faculty of Law, University of Haifa - Israel

Tal Zarsky is Dean and a Professor of Law at the University of Haifa’s Faculty of Law. His research focuses on Information Privacy, Cyber-Security, Internet Policy, Social Networks, Telecommunications Law, Online Commerce, Algorithmic Decisions and the Legal Theory of Private Law. He published numerous articles and book chapters in the U.S., Europe and Israel. His work is often cited in a variety of contexts related to law in the digital age. Prof. Zarsky has advised various regulators, legislators and commercial entities on matters related to his fields of expertise. He served on a variety of advisory boards and is a frequent evaluator of articles and research grants for various international foundations. Prof. Zarsky was a Fellow at the Information Society Project, at Yale Law School and a Global Hauser Fellow, at NYU Law School. His academic visits and teaching appointments include the law schools at the universities of Pennsylvania, Amsterdam and Ottawa. He completed his doctorate dissertation, which focused on Data Mining in the Internet Society, at Columbia University School of Law. He earned a joint B.A. degree (law and psychology) at the Hebrew University with high honors and his master degree (in law) from Columbia University.

Speaker

Eldar Haber

Haifa Center for Law & Technology (HCLT) - Israel

Prof. Eldar Haber is a tenured Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Haifa, and co-director of the Haifa Center for Law & Technology (HCLT). He has held appointments as a fellow and faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (2015–2018), as a visiting professor at Bocconi University (2018–2022), and at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam (2023–2025). His research focuses on the intersection of law and technology, with particular emphasis on AI, cyber law, intellectual property (especially copyright), privacy, and criminal law. His work has appeared in leading law reviews worldwide, including top U.S. technology law journals affiliated with Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, and Stanford. He is the author of Criminal Copyright (Cambridge University Press, 2018), The Rise of the AI Author (KDP, 2025), and co-author of Using AI in Academic Writing and Research (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).

Speaker

Nathalie Smuha

KU Leuven Faculty of Law - Belgium

Nathalie A. Smuha is a legal scholar and philosopher at the KU Leuven Faculty of Law and Criminology, where she examines legal and ethical questions around digital technologies and their impact on human rights, democracy and the rule of law. She is the author of Algorithmic Rule By Law: How Algorithmic Regulation in the Public Sector Erodes the Rule of Law and the editor of The Cambridge Handbook of the Law, Ethics and Policy of Artificial Intelligence (both with Cambridge University Press, 2025). She has taken up Adjunct Professorships at NYU School of Law and Columbia Law School, and she also held visiting positions at Oxford University, the University of Chicago and the University of Birmingham. Prior to her academic turn, she practiced law as a member of the Brussels and the New York Bar and worked at the European Commission (DG Connect), where she coordinated the High-Level Expert Group on AI and contributed to Europe’s AI strategy. She holds BA and MA degrees in both law and philosophy from KU Leuven, a PhD in law from KU Leuven, and an LL.M. from the University of Chicago.

Speaker

Paula Cipierre

ada Learning GmbH - Germany

Paula Cipierre is the Director of Data Ethics & Innovation at ada Learning GmbH, a platform for personal growth and organisational development that facilitates collaboration towards a more digital and sustainable future. Previously the Head of Privacy & Public Policy at Palantir Technologies, she has spent more than a decade researching and working at the intersection of data protection, data ethics, and the digital world. Paula holds degrees from Princeton University (BA summa cum laude), the Hertie School of Governance (MPP), New York University (MA), and the University of Edinburgh (LLM with distinction). She is a certified privacy, information security management, and AI governance professional.

Speaker

Courtney Bowman

Palantir Technologies - United States

Courtney Bowman is Global Director of Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineering at Palantir Technologies. His work addresses the confluence of issues at the intersection of policy, law, technology, ethics, and social norms. In working extensively with government and commercial partners, Bowman’s team focuses on enabling Palantir to build and deploy data integration, sharing, and analysis software that respects and reinforces privacy, security, and data protection principles and community expectations. In his role, Bowman also works with the privacy advocacy world at large to ensure that concerns related to new and emerging technologies and data sources are addressed in the ongoing design and implementation of Palantir’s software platforms. Bowman is a frequent commentator on issues surrounding AI ethics, efficacy, and operationalization. Prior to Palantir, Bowman earned degrees in Physics and Philosophy at Stanford University and worked as a quantitative and economic analyst at Google.