Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School, 2005
- B.A., Carnegie Mellon University, 2001
Biography
Amy Beth Cyphert is an Associate Professor at the West Virginia University College of Law. A Morgantown native, she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2001 as a Truman Scholar and earned her law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2005.
Following law school, Cyphert clerked for the Honorable Laura Taylor Swain in the Southern District of New York. She then worked as a senior litigation associate at WilmerHale in New York City, focusing on complex commercial litigation and First Amendment pro bono matters.
At WVU, she developed and teaches courses on Artificial Intelligence and the Law, including a course on Regulating AI. Her recent research explores the impact of generative artificial intelligence on the legal profession, copyright law, and broader regulatory challenges. She has also written extensively about algorithmic decision-making in the criminal justice system. In 2021, she received the Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award from the Future of Privacy Forum for her scholarship on machine-learning algorithms and online surveillance.
Selected Publications
- Confronting the Challenges of Regulating Artificial Intelligence, Florida International University Law Review, forthcoming, 2025.
- Machine Unlearning Doesn't Do What You Think: Lessons for Generative AI Policy, Research, and Practice, preprint online arXiv:2412.06966 (2024) (with multiple coauthors).
- Generative AI, Plagiarism, and Copyright Infringement in Legal Documents, 25 Minn. J.L. Sci. & Tech. 49 (2024) (invited symposium manuscript).
- Code Blue: The Threat of Synthetic Data Use to Generative Medical AI, 24 Hous. J. Health L. & Pol’y (2025) (with Valarie K. Blake) (invited symposium manuscript).
- AI Cannibalism and the Law, 22 Colo. Tech. L. J. 301 (2024) (with Sean Tu and Sam Perl).
- Blockchain Safe Harbor? Applying the Lessons Learned from Early Internet Regulation, 107 Marq. L. Rev. 145 (2023) (with Sam Perl).
- "A Change is Gonna Come:" Developing a Liability Framework for Social Media Algorithmic Amplification (with Jena Martin), 13 U.C. Irvine L. Rev. 55 (2022).
- Limits of Using Artificial Intelligence and GPT-3 in Patent Prosecution (with Sean Tu and Sam Perl), 54 Texas Tech L. Rev. 255 (2022).
- A Human Being Wrote This Law Review Article: GPT-3 and the Practice of Law, 55 U.C. Davis Law Review 401 (2021).
- Reprogramming Recidivism: The First Step Act and Algorithmic Prediction of Risk, 51 Seton Hall L. Rev. 331 (2020).
- Tinkering with Machine Learning: The Legality and Consequences of Online Surveillance of Students, 20 Nev. L.J. 457 (2020).
- The Devil is in the Details: Exploring Restorative Justice as an Option for Campus Sexual Assault Responses Under Title IX, 96 Denver L. Rev. 51 (2019).
- Objectively Offensive: The Problem of Applying Title IX to Very Young Students, 51 Fam. L. Q. 325 (2018).
- Prisoners of Fate: The Challenges of Creating Change for Children of Incarcerated Parents, 77 Md. L. Rev. 385 (2018).
- Addressing Racial Disparities in Preschool Suspension and Expulsion Rates, 82 Tenn. L. Rev. 893 (2015).
Teaching Experience
Cyphert teaches several courses at the College of Law, including Artificial Intelligence and Law, Civil Procedure I, Civil Procedure II, and Regulating Artificial Intelligence. She has also taught undergraduate courses at WVU such as Philosophy of Law, Law and Leadership, History of the Warren Court, and The Supreme Court Today.
Professional Experience
- Director, ASPIRE, WVU (2010–2024)
- Senior Litigation Associate, WilmerHale (2007–2010)
- Law Clerk, Hon. Laura Taylor Swain, U.S. District Court, SDNY (2005–2007)
