AI counsel for companies building, deploying, buying, or selling AI
I help companies make strategic decisions across AI product development, deployment, contracting, and governance. That includes what can launch, what can be promised, what controls are required, who has authority to approve an AI use, and what an AI system may be permitted to do.
20-minute fit and scoping conversation.
Please do not send confidential or sensitive information before the firm confirms an attorney-client relationship.
The decisions that determine what AI can do
Legal counsel connecting product, commercial, procurement, privacy, security, and leadership decisions across launch, contracting, deployment, governance, and agent authority.
A practical framework for deciding what can move forward, under whose authority, with what controls, and when to escalate.
Work directly with Obehi
Simpson Thacher · IBM · Wilson Sonsini
Penn Law · Computer Information Systems
Product · Transactions · Privacy · Governance
How I help
I help translate those decisions into practical legal, contractual, and governance controls.
01
Who decides what?
Define which AI uses require review, how risk is classified, who has approval authority, what controls apply, and when a decision must be escalated.
Practical outcomeA repeatable decision process rather than a policy that sits on a shelf.
02
Can we launch this, and under what conditions?
Resolve product, training and input data, output, IP, privacy, disclosure, control, customer commitment, and regulatory questions.
Practical outcomeA documented decision to launch, modify, defer, or decline, with the conditions required to proceed.
03
What are we actually allowing this system to do?
Assess vendors and internal deployments across data use, security, system access, agent permissions, human oversight, contractual commitments, and operational controls.
Practical outcomeClear deployment conditions and a repeatable review standard.
04
What can we promise customers, and can the product support it?
Set positions on AI terms, data and training rights, warranties, indemnities, diligence, governance commitments, and customer controls.
Practical outcomeCommercial positions that Sales can use and Product can actually support.
Agentic AI
That changes the legal question.
It is no longer only whether an AI system may be used. Companies increasingly need to decide what systems it may access, what actions it may take, when a human must approve an action, what must be logged, and who can change or revoke its authority.
Practical outcomeA clear authority and control structure that Product, Legal, Security, and leadership can operate.
Define
When it makes sense to bring me in
You may not need a larger legal department. You may need focused senior judgment applied to the decision in front of you.
Work with Obehi
I’m Obehi Ota. My career spans corporate practice at Simpson Thacher, technology transactions roles at IBM and Wilson Sonsini, and independent practice. I earned my J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and hold degrees in Computer Information Systems and Information Science.
My information systems background, along with my experience across commercial contracting, privacy, data use, and product counseling, helps me approach AI as an operating technology and business issue, not only as a regulatory one. Clients work with me directly throughout the engagement.
Obehi Ota
Pronounced oh-BEH-hee UH-tah
AI Product, Transactions & Governance Attorney · Licensed in New York and California
LinkedIn profile (opens in a new tab)Start with a conversation
Bring the product launch, deployment, agent, customer commitment, governance issue, or commercial decision that needs to move.
We will identify the decision, the stakeholders involved, the timing, and whether a focused project or ongoing counsel is the appropriate structure.
20-minute fit and scoping conversation.
Email about an AI matterPlease do not send confidential or sensitive information before the firm confirms an attorney-client relationship.