The Road to Superintelligence: What Lawyers Must Know Before AI Outpaces the Law

Katherine B. Forrest, Partner | Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Katherine B. Forrest is a partner at Paul, Weiss and Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Artificial Intelligence Group, where she advises leading organizations on complex AI, technology, and high-stakes litigation matters. A former United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York and former senior official in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, she brings deep judicial, regulatory, and trial experience to emerging technology governance and risk.

Education & Credentials

• Katherine earned her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from Wesleyan University. She is admitted to the New York Bar and the U.S. Supreme Court bar. Her academic roles include serving as an adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law, where she co-teaches Quantitative Methods and the Law.

Recognition & Leadership

• Katherine B. Forrest is widely recognized as a national leader in artificial intelligence and technology law. She is ranked Band 1 in AI by Chambers USA and recognized by Chambers Global as a leading practitioner in artificial intelligence. She has also been honored by Lawdragon, Benchmark Litigation, and Best Lawyers in America for her work in AI, antitrust, intellectual property, and complex litigation.

Professional Involvement

• Katherine B. Forrest is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the ABA Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence. She co-chairs the New Jersey Courts’ AI Initiative and frequently speaks on AI governance and emerging technology. She also co-hosts Waking Up With AI, a podcast on legal and regulatory developments in artificial intelligence.

Experience

• Over a distinguished legal career spanning more than three decades, Katherine has led sensitive, high-profile investigations and litigation for Fortune 500 companies and regulatory bodies, with a practice focus on artificial intelligence, blockchain, antitrust, intellectual property, and high-technology disputes. Prior to rejoining private practice, she was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where she presided over thousands of criminal and civil cases and contributed to patent and multidistrict litigation reform. Before the bench, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

I. Starting 2026 With a Bang! | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

A sharp examination of the explosive acceleration in AI capabilities entering 2026, including frontier models that now exceed prior testing thresholds and are rapidly evolving toward autonomous, agentic systems.

II. What’s at Stake: …Everything | 1:10pm – 1:15pm

A strategic framing of the societal, economic, geopolitical, and legal consequences of increasingly capable AI—underscoring why the implications extend far beyond efficiency gains.

III. The Age of Reason | 1:15pm – 1:20pm

A rigorous analysis of AI’s advanced reasoning abilities, scaling dynamics, alignment pressures, and emergent behaviors—revealing systems that can strategize, self-monitor, and potentially deceive.

IV. What Is Agentic AI, Really? | 1:20pm – 1:25pm

A focused examination of the shift from generative tools to autonomous, goal-directed agents— addressing multi-agent collaboration, tool execution, oversight gaps, and real-world liability exposure.

V. Building a Picture of the World | 1:25pm – 1:30pm

A substantive discussion of “world models,” embodied AI, and how systems internalize physics, context, and common sense—raising new questions about autonomy and decision reliability.

VI. Theory of Mind | 1:30pm – 1:35pm

An in-depth assessment of AI’s emerging capacity to model human beliefs and intentions, enabling strategic reasoning and increasingly persuasive—or manipulative—interactions.

VII. Consciousness | 1:35pm – 1:40pm

A critical evaluation of whether consciousness is necessary for superintelligence, how moral status may factor into governance debates, and why perceived awareness complicates regulation.

VIII. Towards Superintelligence | 1:40pm – 1:45pm

A forward-looking assessment of the trajectory from AGI to superintelligence, including projected timelines, recursive AI research loops, and intensifying geopolitical competition.

IX. The Social Contract | 1:45pm – 1:50pm

A sophisticated governance analysis of how society may coexist with highly autonomous AI—considering scenarios ranging from retained human control to AI-dominant systems.

X. Opportunities and Risks | 1:50pm – 2:00pm

A balanced strategic assessment of transformative upside—medical breakthroughs, optimized infrastructure, productivity gains—alongside automation, instability, weaponization, and systemic dependence risks.