On November 7, the State Tax University hosted an online guest lecture by Gregory Ashley, an American lawyer and Professor of Law at Rikkyo University (Tokyo, Japan).

The event was attended by students majoring in Law Enforcement, Law, and International Law, as well as academic staff of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Law of the State Tax University.

In his presentation “When Algorithms Take the Witness Stand: AI as Evidence and AI on Trial”, Professor Ashley examined how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming both evidentiary practices and legal responsibility.

During the lecture, the professor outlined three categories of AI-related evidence — AI-enhanced, AI-based, and AI-generated — and discussed the challenges each presents for ensuring evidentiary reliability and judicial oversight. He highlighted how courts, regulators, and corporations across different jurisdictions approach the issue differently: Japan relies on procedural harmony and administrative guidance supported by reputational influence; the European Union implements precautionary regulatory oversight and ex ante certification; while the United States applies ex post adversarial testing, which may soon include AI-generated outcomes as “expert witness” testimony under the proposed Federal Rule of Evidence 707.

The second part of the lecture focused on AI as a potential defendant in lawsuits involving copyright and product liability. Drawing on recent Character.AI cases related to teenage suicides, Professor Ashley illustrated how doctrines of fault and foreseeability are evolving to address harms caused by autonomous AI systems.

The lecture concluded with a lively Q&A session, moderated by Professor Maksym Maksimentsev, fostering engaging discussion among participants.

This event marked another step in expanding the international academic cooperation of the State Tax University and deepened students’ understanding of the contemporary legal dimensions of artificial intelligence technologies.