Susan Rohol

Los Angeles
As the former lead privacy lawyer for Warner Bros. Discovery, Susan Rohol played a pivotal role in overseeing the media giant's global regulatory efforts concerning AI. Her expertise was not only instrumental in building and managing a global team of more than 60 legal, technology and compliance professionals, but also in steering operations, data governance, brand engagement, data mapping and project management.
"The EU passed laws around 'automated decision making' that brought some attention to how companies are using AI and machine learning in their businesses, and it prompted conversations at Warner Bros. Discovery and AT&T about the need to set guiding principles to govern ethical use of AI," Rohol said.
She said she learned about AI by collaborating with data scientists and technologists, who were keen on educating lawyers about AI while ensuring ethical practices.
In her role, Susan was actively involved in engaging with technologists and data scientists to navigate the use of AI across Warner Bros. Discovery's diverse portfolio, including news, sports, streaming and video games. Her responsibilities included drafting AI governance and ethics policies, reviewing AI use cases, and conducting risk assessments for machine learning and other AI tools.
At Willkie, Rohol advises clients on matters such as AI personalization, marketing, advertising, AI diligence reviews in M&A transactions and AI contract terms. Her expertise extends to drafting client engagement letters for talent agencies and business management firms, ensuring they are well-protected and informed on AI-related issues.
"Over the last year, more than 500 AI bills were introduced in U.S. state legislatures and the White House's Executive Order effectively mandated every federal agency to issue rules related to AI. This is on top of many new privacy and data-related laws," Rohol said, adding: "Most content creators and entertainment companies do not have active government affairs teams, which puts them at a significant disadvantage as compared to many technology companies that have hundreds of lobbyists working for them."
She said the pace of technological development will always continue to be a challenge.
"Content creators have very mixed feelings about how to use the technology, how to engage with platforms, whether to litigate given the long timelines for cases to be resolved, and whether new laws and regulations will happen fast enough to protect them," Rohol said. "Balancing all of these competing interests and challenges for clients in different parts of the entertainment industry has made this a very exciting year."
As far as AI trends go, she said there will soon be decisions in a number of the copyright cases that have been filed over the next year or two.
"My fear is that it won't give rights holders sufficient clarity about where they stand -- either because there will be appeals or because the courts will issue narrow decisions that will be hard to interpret and apply. My prediction is that this space will be in a state of turmoil for many more years to come," Rohol said.