Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis

The widespread technology outage on July 19, 2024 highlighted major potential issues that can arise when service providers rely on technology to provide critical services. The effects of the outage were felt by critical service providers across numerous industries, including airlines, banks, public transit, healthcare, and media. Because we live in a world that is increasingly reliant on technology, if a critical piece of technology fails or introduces a flaw to a system that relies on that particular technology, it can have extreme consequences, as many experienced on July 19.

Telemarketing has long been a favored method for businesses to reach potential clients. However, with the significant evolution of data privacy and consumer protection laws, telemarketing is now intertwined with numerous legal challenges and concerns.

In Part 1 of our series on Text-to-Speech AI Models (TTS Models), we highlighted questions that should be considered from an intellectual property perspective. In this Part 2, we provide a high-level overview of data protection concerns of which to be aware. Given the specific nature of the product source—voice being the core element of input and output data for TTS Models—it is crucial to be mindful of data protection requirements, especially in an era of heightened attention to privacy rights.

Text-to-speech AI models (TTS Models) are rapidly evolving within the broader spectrum of AI solutions, offering tremendous potential for businesses. These models can analyze text and speech as well as generate anything from simple sounds to high-quality, natural-sounding speech, which capability makes TTS models highly appealing for commercial use, including use in connection with virtual assistants, audiobooks, elearning platforms, and customer service functions.

There are many issues for companies to address when contracting for the manufacture and supply of automotive industry products. In this blog post, we highlight several of these key considerations.

Starting January 17, 2025, financial entities based in the European Union must have in place processes and policies, as well as mandatory contract provisions with their third-party technology vendors, that comply with the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). Financial entities are currently at varying stages of updating their operational risk management frameworks and remediating contracts with technology vendors. For banks, the European Central Bank has signaled that resiliency will be a top priority on its supervisory agenda.

Beginning January 17, 2025, the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) will require financial entities to maintain and submit to EU regulators a comprehensive register of their contractual arrangements with third-party information and communication technology (ICT) service providers. Financial entities are being given the opportunity to sign up for a voluntary reporting exercise by May 31, 2024, running between July and August 2024, to help them prepare for one of the most challenging aspects of implementing DORA.

Welcome to Part 3 of our Cracking AI and Outsourcing Conundrums series. In Part 1, we discussed at a high level the challenges of requiring outsourcing providers to drive innovation through the use of generative AI (GenAI) while at the same time complying with an outsourcing customer’s AI policies. In Part 2, we dove into the conundrum of balancing a company’s need for enhanced quality checks with the desire (by the company and the outsourcing provider) to drive productivity and realize savings.

In Part 1 of our Cracking AI and Outsourcing Conundrums series, we discussed at a high level the challenges of requiring outsourcing providers to drive generative AI (GenAI) innovation while at the same time complying with companies’ AI policies. One of the challenges we identified was that many outsourcing agreements impose aggressive savings commitments, to be realized through the implementation of technology solutions that enable headcount or other cost reductions.

Innovation: all companies want their outsourcing providers to be at the forefront, whether accomplished by proposing ideas, implementing solutions as part of their business-as-usual services, or offering savings based on productivity commitments or other demonstrable business impact. Some outsourcing providers may even use innovation as a key differentiator during the sales cycle, putting real dollars at risk if innovation projects don’t realize promised savings. And what innovation is more top of mind presently than the use of artificial intelligence?