Artificial Intelligence

With more and more decisions being made via artificial intelligence, law professor Paul Weitzel is investigating what legal theories might be used to regulate and enforce AI decision-making and asset management. Before joining Nebraska Law faculty in 2022, he worked in Silicon Valley and the Middle East conducting international transactions on six continents. His most notable deal was the initial public offering of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, the largest initial public offering to date. With his research, Weitzel aims to humanize the corporate experience. He explores legal and governance constraints that drive antisocial corporate behavior, with the goal of revising underlying theories of corporate purpose and corporate personality to empower executives.

Elana Zeide teaches, researches and writes about the legal, policy and ethical implications of data-driven systems and artificial intelligence. Her work focuses on the modern-day permanent record and how new learning, hiring and workplace technologies affect education and opportunity. Recent articles include "Student Privacy in the Age of Big Data," "The Structural Consequences of Big Data-Driven Education," and "Algorithms Make Lousy Fortune Tellers." She is a former PULSE Fellow in Artificial Intelligence, Law & Policy at UCLA's School of Law, a visiting assistant professor at Seton Hall University's School of Law, an associate research fellow at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy, a visiting fellow at Yale School of Law's Information Society Projec, and a Microsoft Research Fellow at New York University's Information Law Institute. (Updated November 2024)

Valerie Jones investigates how new communication technologies can address societal challenges and improve quality of life. She is interested in the influence of voice-powered artificial intelligence assistants and whether the devices can reduce loneliness and create social connections for aging adults. Her research has been published in Frontiers in Digital Health, Health Communication, Innovation in Aging, and the Journal of Brand Strategy. She is founder and co-director of the SMART-Lab (Social and Traditional Media Analytics and Research Tools), a new multi-disciplinary research facility focused on social and traditional media. Jones is the Fred A. & Gladys Seaton Professor of advertising and public relations in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. In 2023, she was named a Fulbright Global Scholar to study the use of emergent technology in fostering social connectedness for aging adults in the United States and Australia. Jones leads the 2024-25 Bateman Case Study Competition, a competition for students to research, plan, implement and evaluate a public relations campaign for an actual client. She teaches classes in media strategy, data ethics, branding, digital insights and analytics. (Updated December 2024)