Artificial intelligence is becoming part of everyday practice for contractors and design professionals, and the legal implications are evolving. Two issues have emerged as particularly important: who owns AI-assisted design work, and what happens when data is shared with AI tools.Design documents have long been protected by copyright, and design and construction contracts have taken
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Authorship and Data Disclosure Risks in Construction and Design
By Evan Brown
Originally published to the Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce on December 18, 2025
Contractors and design professionals are rapidly incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) technology into their work. We construction lawyers are striving to keep up with the breakneck pace of technological adoption and evolution and develop ways to protect against emerging risks. During this period…
Bricks and bots: AI technologies’ growing impact on construction
By Evan Brown
AI is making waves across construction—from analyzing specs and drawings to automating scheduling and productivity tracking. But alongside efficiency gains come legal and operational risks that can’t be ignored.
Understanding how AI tools function—and where they fall short—is critical for managing liability on today’s projects.
Key Legal Considerations Around AI Use in Construction:
- Hallucinations –
…
WSBA Construction Law Section Midyear CLE Program
By Bart Reed
On June 14, 2024, the WSBA Construction Law Section is hosting its midyear CLE program, “Back to the Future: Leveraging Technology in Post-Covid Construction Disputes,” which will cover ethics, construction-related case law updates, technology, perspectives from the bench, arbitration, artificial intelligence, and legislative updates and appeals.
As part of the program, my colleague Colm Nelson…
Follow-Up: Should Attorneys Use Artificial Intelligence to Draft a Construction Contract?
Over this past summer, our colleague Mario R. Nicholas penned an article for the Daily Journal of Commerce entitled “Can Artificial Intelligence Be Trusted to Draft a Construction Contract?” It is a great read, and we borrow from it here in many places.
In his article, Mario principally focused on why chatbots like…