Jonathan Hersh, PhD
An AI expert witness economist analyzes how algorithms, data, and market structure produce economic harm in litigation. Jonathan Hersh, PhD is a tenured economics professor retained in disputes over AI training data, copyright and piracy damages, platform data and measurement, and antitrust in digital markets — providing expert reports and deposition testimony, grounded in peer-reviewed research.
I provide economic analysis and testimony in complex litigation involving artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and technology-driven economic harm. My work focuses on matters where the legal outcome depends on a rigorous understanding of algorithms, data, market structure, and measurable economic impact. I have been retained in disputes involving AI training data, platform conduct, and API access, and I have been deposed. What I bring that most economists cannot is a peer-reviewed publication record in the specific literatures these cases are argued against — digital copyright enforcement, platform economics, and applied machine learning.
Each area has a dedicated page covering the questions those matters turn on, the methods applied, and the peer-reviewed research behind the analysis.
In AI training data litigation, an economic expert quantifies whether a model's training and output caused market harm to the works it was trained on. Jonathan Hersh, PhD is an economist who analyzes substitution between AI outputs and original works, lost licensing markets, and the acquisition of training corpora — and has been deposed in an AI training data matter.
AI Training Data & Copyright detail →Piracy and copyright enforcement disputes turn on how much licensed demand unlicensed access actually displaced. Jonathan Hersh, PhD is an economist whose peer-reviewed research measures exactly this — the effect of website blocking, site shutdowns, and enforcement on legal consumption — published in MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, and the Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues.
Piracy & Copyright Enforcement detail →Platform data disputes turn on whether the numbers a platform reports measure what a party claims they measure. Jonathan Hersh, PhD is an economist who evaluates platform metrics, telemetry, logs, and attribution methodology in litigation — assessing sampling, definitional changes, and inference from proxies, and explaining what the data can and cannot establish.
Platform Data & Measurement detail →Antitrust disputes in digital markets turn on whether a platform's design and access decisions foreclosed competition or simply reflected it. Jonathan Hersh, PhD is an economist who analyzes API access restrictions, interoperability, self-preferencing, and platform foreclosure — with peer-reviewed research in Management Science on how APIs restructure firm boundaries and growth.
Antitrust & Digital Markets detail →Written expert reports and declarations with supporting exhibits, designed for admissibility and clarity under scrutiny.
Deposition testimony and preparation, including rebuttal analysis and support for examining opposing experts.
Pre-litigation consulting, case strategy input, data assessment, and behind-the-scenes analytical support for trial teams.
Expert evaluation of model behavior, performance claims, algorithmic decision-making, and causal impact in legal settings, with explanations built for non-technical audiences.
Economic analysis of platform power, exclusionary conduct, API restrictions, interoperability, self-preferencing, tying, and competitive effects in fast-moving software ecosystems.
Damages analysis for de-platforming, website blocking, API throttling or termination, and related losses using causal inference, counterfactual modeling, and robustness checks.
Assessment of platform governance, API strategy, developer ecosystems, and downstream business impact where technical design choices intersect with economic harm.
Common questions about hiring an economist expert witness, including platform economics expert witness and AI labor economist expert witness matters.
I am typically retained in disputes involving AI systems, algorithmic decision-making, platform conduct, API access restrictions, economic damages from de-platforming or website blocking, and antitrust claims in technology markets. I also consult on labor market impacts of AI adoption.
Yes. I work on disputes involving API access restrictions, interoperability limits, self-preferencing, and other forms of alleged exclusionary conduct in digital markets. My published research on API ecosystems and platform growth is directly relevant to these matters.
Yes. I evaluate model behavior, claims about performance and reliability, and whether observed outcomes can be causally attributed to AI adoption or algorithmic decisions. I regularly teach and publish on these methods.
I conduct a confidentiality and conflicts review at intake before engaging on any matter. A short matter summary, jurisdiction, procedural posture, deadlines, and a high-level list of available data are usually enough for an initial assessment.
Initial assessments are often possible within 3–5 business days, depending on urgency and data readiness. I can support compressed litigation timelines when needed.
I provide expert reports, declarations, exhibits, replication packages with documented methodology, deposition testimony, and rebuttal analyses. All work is conducted with emphasis on reproducibility and admissibility.
For expert witness matters or consulting, request a consult (conflicts check available).
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