Mining the deep ocean

Deep-sea mining is no longer a hypothetical—companies are racing to harvest polymetallic nodules from the abyssal plain, risking irreversible damage to unknown ecosystems. At depths exceeding 4,000 meters, each mining operation can disturb up to 500 square kilometers of seafloor habitat annually, which is 20% more destructive than the average terrestrial mining operation. This story forces a conversation humanity is not ready to have, yet its urgency surpasses that of AI is beginning to change the business of law's legal AI shift due to the potential for catastrophic ecological collapse.