New York City Bar (NYCB) releases report on recent trends and developments in AI and digital technologies

Rim Belaoud, Associate Director at FRA, who specialises in data analytics for compliance, fraud, and financial crime investigations, participated in a working group on recent trends and developments in artificial intelligence and digital technologies. This working group contributed to the report recently released by NYCB. 

Rim has led complex investigations, anti-money laundering projects for global banks, and advised on compliance tools and ethical AI in financial crime prevention. She is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and was one of approximately 250 representatives of more than 50 committees, councils, and other task forces of the City Bar and adjunct members, including lawyers, academics, computer scientists, trade association representatives, consultants, technologists, roboticists, neurotechnologists, ethicists, and others who made up the task force that wrote the report.

The report covers 2025 trends in AI and digital technologies – covering legal, regulatory and ethical implications and how these technologies are shaping industries, societies and the practice of law. AI is evolving rapidly and becoming embedded everywhere – the workplace, transport, education and consumer products. The report details how AI is not just being implemented within the tech space; adoption is across all sectors. AI is no longer experimental, it has become core infrastructure.

AI and digital technologies create significant opportunities, while also introducing substantial risks. To harness these benefits responsibly, governance and regulatory frameworks must evolve in step with technological progress. However, legal and regulatory systems are still developing, and a consistent global framework has yet to emerge, creating new challenges and implications for the legal profession.

As AI continues to advance at pace, it is critical for organisations to act proactively, strengthening governance and risk management approaches to ensure these technologies are deployed in a responsible and controlled manner.

To read the full report, click here.