Michael Ryan Calo (1977–) is a thought leader in the area of
artificial intelligence and robotics' legal and policy ramifications.
Calo was instrumental in establishing a network of legal
experts dedicated to robots and AI; he foresaw the harm AI may pose to consumer
privacy and autonomy, and he produced an early and widely distributed primer on
AI law and policy.
Calo has forged methodological and practice innovations for
early stage tech policy work, demonstrating the importance and efficacy of
legal scholars working side by side with technologists and designers to
anticipate futures and meaningful policy responses, in addition to these and
other contributions.
Calo was born and raised in the cities of Syracuse, New
York, and Florence, Italy.
His parents got him a great remote-controlled base coupled
to an inflatable robot when he was a child, and it was his first interaction
with robots.
Calo studied philosophy as a student at Dartmouth
University, where he studied the ethics of computer pioneer James Moor, among
others.
Calo graduated from the University of Michigan with a law
degree in 2005.
He became a fellow and subsequently research director at
Stanford's Center for Internet and Society after law school, a federal
appellate clerkship, and two years in private practice (CIS).
Calo was a pioneer in bringing robotics law and policy into
the mainstream at Stanford, co-founding the Legal Aspects of Autonomous Driving
effort with Sven Beiker at Stanford's Center for Automotive Research (CARS).
Calo met Ian Kerr, a Canadian law professor and philosopher
of technology, and Michael Froomkin, a cyberlaw pioneer, along the road.
The We Robot conference was created by Froomkin, Kerr, and
Calo in 2012.
Calo praises Kerr for inspiring him to explore robotics and
artificial intelligence as a field of study.
Calo now codirects the University of Washington's Tech
Policy Lab, an interdisciplinary research unit that spans computer science,
information science, and law.
He and his codirectors Batya Friedman and Tadayoshi Kohno
determine the Lab's research and practice agenda in this capacity.
Calo also cofounded the University of Washington Center for
an Informed Public, which is dedicated to researching and combating digital and
analog disinformation.
Calo has published several articles on the legal and policy
implications of robots and artificial intelligence.
Updating the behavioral economic theory of market
manipulation in light of artificial intelligence and digital media, advocating
for a social systems approach to studying AI's effects, anticipating the
privacy harms of robotics and AI, and rigorously examining how the affordances
of robotics and AI challenge the American legal system are among the book's key
contributions.
~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan
You may also want to read more about Artificial Intelligence here.
See also:
Accidents and Risk Assessment; Product Liability and AI.
Further Reading
Calo, Ryan. 2011. “Peeping Hals.” Artificial Intelligence 175, no. 5–6 (April): 940–41.
Calo, Ryan. 2014. “Digital Market Manipulation.” George Washington Law Review 82, no. 4 (August): 995–1051.
Calo, Ryan. 2015. “Robotics and the Lessons of Cyberlaw.” California Law Review 103, no. 3: 513–63.
Calo, Ryan. 2017. “Artificial Intelligence Policy: A Primer and Roadmap.” University of California, Davis Law Review 51: 399–435.
Crawford, Kate, and Ryan Calo. 2016. “There Is a Blind Spot in AI Research.” Nature 538 (October): 311–13.
