319: AI x Law x Digital Publishing with Lawyer and Scholar, Jake Okechukwu Effoduh
After a summer sabbatical and spending some time outside of this space… we’re back!
There’s lots on the horizon for the coming weeks and months, as well as some room for serendipitous conversations. I’m going to be moving from an (approximately) weekly episode release to 2x/month to make space for some of this forthcoming happenstance.
First up, we have an incredible guest to kick off the fall season.
Discussions of AI are everywhere today; it’s the culture in which we’re all currently swimming (sometimes drowning!). But today’s guest is the best of the best as it relates to the intersection of AI, the law, and digital publishing. He offers fresh perspectives, clarity, and precision that is like throwing us life preservers and allowing us to catch our breaths. If you listen to no other Talk Paper Scissors episode this year, please have a listen to this one.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh is an Assistant Professor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law. His research focuses on the intersections of AI, human rights, and international law. He has contributed to a broad range of AI policy development in several countries, including Canada, the United States, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, China and Nigeria. He has also carried out legal advocacy within sub-regional and regional systems like the Inter-American Commission, the ECOWAS Court, the East African Court, the African Commission, and the UN Human Rights Council.
He is the convener of “Black Futures by Design”, an expert consultation advancing racial justice in AI governance and regulation. Jake has held fellowships at Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Ottawa, and the University of Cape Town. He is a UNESCO Expert on AI and the Rule of Law, providing training to judges, law teachers and legal officers on the use of AI in legal and judicial contexts.
In this conversation you’ll hear about Jake’s work surrounding technology, algorithmic bias, discrimination, and how we can rethink about the future of technology. Jake shares how things have changed for publishers as it relates to copyright and the ease at which copying can happen today.
We talk friction, we talk trust as the new currency, accountability, why we might need a new Internet, and how creativity can help us imagine new futures.
Jake helps us unravel and reimagine the definition of creativity in a time of AI and why AI systems (as they exist today), really can’t be creative. (Phew!)
Jake shares the legal and ethical considerations around inputs and outputs of AI specific to an artists’ work and the questions to ask. He also shares what a fair relationship between creatives and AI companies could look like.
Jake helps us better understand what AI is doing to us as human beings, and he shares what he’s optimistic about and less optimistic about.
Come with us on a journey as Jake helps us disentangle some of the complexities surrounding AI, the law, and digital publishing This is a recording in Digital Publishing at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University in summer 2026.
About Our Guest:
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh is an Assistant Professor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law. His research focuses on the intersections of AI, human rights, and international law. He has contributed to a broad range of AI policy development in several countries, including Canada, the United States, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, China and Nigeria. He has also carried out legal advocacy within sub-regional and regional systems like the Inter-American Commission, the ECOWAS Court, the East African Court, the African Commission, and the UN Human Rights Council.
He is the convener of “Black Futures by Design”, an expert consultation advancing racial justice in AI governance and regulation. Jake has held fellowships at Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Ottawa, and the University of Cape Town. He is a UNESCO Expert on AI and the Rule of Law, providing training to judges, law teachers and legal officers on the use of AI in legal and judicial contexts.
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Music: Bubbles ( Lofi , Bright , Relaxed ) by HoliznaCC0 is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.
Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle
