Protecting Human Creativity in our AI Era: Legal Issues & Ethical Challenges (CLE)

Join the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville and The Porch for a comprehensive overview of the challenges surrounding the protection of all forms of human-created art in the era of Artificial Intelligence. This event offers a thought-provoking panel discussion on preserving artistic integrity in a world increasingly shaped by AI. Gain valuable insights into the evolving field of copyright protection from experienced legal professionals and distinguished artists, as they explore how to safeguard creative works in this rapidly changing environment.

This course has been approved by the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education for a maximum of one (1) hour of dual credit.

Moderator:

Jin Yoshikawa, Adams and Reese’s Artificial Intelligence Team Leader

Jin Yoshikawa, a member of the Adams and Reese Global Intellectual Property Team and the Adams and Reese Artificial Intelligence Team Leader, has an IP litigation practice that focuses on federal trademark and anti-counterfeiting cases in courts throughout the United States, trademark cases before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeals Board, and other cases involving IP rights. Nearly all involve parties with headquarters or operations outside the U.S., and many are multi-jurisdictional disputes coordinated by the Adams and Reese Global IP Team. Jin has years of experience serving diverse and global clients, such as pharmaceutical companies, doctors and hospital systems, entertainment & media companies, and technology firms. He regularly researches, speaks, and writes on emerging AI-issues based on his formal AI and ML training, knowledge, and experience.

Panelists:

Erin McAnally, Songwriter and Executive Director of Songwriters of North America

Songwriter and artist advocate Erin McAnally has always been a part of the music business. Born in Muscle Shoals, AL, and raised in Nashville, she has extensive experience in A&R, production, music supervision and scoring for film and tv, publishing, and concerts and festivals.

Now living in Los Angeles, she serves as Songwriters of North America’s Executive Director. She co-owns a publishing company with her husband, Mick Utley. They were frequent co-writers with Jimmy Buffett, landing two songs on his most recent and posthumous album.

She also works as a consultant and prose writer, helping artists, brands, and non-profits with marketing and communications, fundraising, education, events, and operations. In the past few years, one of her focuses was developing and teaching an education program with Artist Rights Alliance to empower artists and music creators and aiding the organization with strategic growth initiatives. She has extensive public speaking experience, having presented at conferences like Folk Alliance, SXSW, Americana Fest, and the US Copyright Office’s Unclaimed Royalties Study Kickoff Symposium.

Franklin Graves, In-house IP, Media, and Technology Attorney and Author of the weekly newsletter Creator Economy Law

Franklin Graves is an experienced in-house counsel currently serving as a member of the technology law group at HCA Healthcare, Inc., where he provides guidance and strategic
counsel for corporate technology initiatives, including artificial intelligence and the Responsible AI program. He is also a Lecturer on Law with New England Law | Boston where he teaches Cyber Law, and an Affiliated Faculty with Emerson College’s Business of Creative Enterprises MA program where he teaches business and IP law.

Franklin previously held roles on the commercial legal team at Eventbrite, Inc. and the business and legal affairs team at Naxos Music Group. Franklin also runs the weekly newsletter, Creator Economy Law, on LinkedIn. In 2024, Franklin was invited to participate as one of 100 creators and creator economy professionals in the first ever White House Creator Economy Conference. He also presented his work-in-progress paper, Upload Complete: An Introduction to Creator Economy Law, at the Berkeley Law 24th Annual Intellectual Property Scholars Conference in August 2024.

He regularly contributes to IPWatchdog, Tubefilter, and Passionfruit, as a means to educate creators and raise awareness of all legal aspects of the creator economy. He is based in
Nashville, TN.

Kelly McKernan, Visual Artist

Kelly McKernan is an independent artist based in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. They graduated with a B.F.A. in 2009 from Kennesaw State University in Georgia and have been a full time artist since 2012. Original watercolor and acryla gouache paintings are created for galleries, private commissions, and their online store where fine art prints and other products are also sold. In addition to maintaining a large social media following, Kelly shares tutorials and teaches workshops, travels across the US for events and comic-cons, and also creates illustrations for books, comics, games, and more. As of 2023, Kelly is a professor of illustration at Nossi College of Art in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kelly's personal work is primarily informed by their journey as an artist and human. Their art explores their personal evolution of an ever-shifting identity, informed by the sexuality and gender spectrums, motherhood, childhood trauma, escaping a religious cult, pregnancy loss and abortion, depression, divorce, neurodivergence, and chronic illness. All of this weaves itself into the quiet narrative of self-exploration behind Kelly's vibrant and ethereal paintings.