Digital Smiles
Creative workers, marketers and other professionals are increasingly looking to generative AI-powered content creation for future applications, but some of the most prominent vendors of the disruptive technology are facing significant legal challenges. OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT, have made concessions to Italy’s data protection agency to comply with GDPR, and are now under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Meanwhile, Google is facing a proposed class action lawsuit in San Francisco, which alleges the company illegally took digital content and personal information to train its AI products without permission.
The FTC sent OpenAI a 20-page letter in an effort to clarify whether the company “engaged in unfair or deceptive privacy or data security practices or engaged in unfair or deceptive practices relating to risks of harm to consumers”. FTC Chair Lina Khan commented in an op-ed that “although these tools are novel, they are not exempt from existing rules, and the FTC will vigorously enforce the laws we are charged with administering, even in this new market”.
The accusations against Google allege the company has been taking digital content and personal information from millions of Americans to train its AI products, including its chatbot, Bard. Eight plaintiffs have accused Google of taking a variety of content they shared on social media without permission, ranging from photos on dating websites to playlists saved on Spotify to videos uploaded onto TikTok. One of the claimants, a best-selling author from Texas, more specifically accused Google of copying a book they wrote in its entirety to train Bard.
These legal challenges raise questions about the legal implications of using people’s intellectual property to train AI technology from which they do not stand to profit. As OpenAI and Google are the two most prominent players in the genAI space, they are bearing the brunt of regulatory scrutiny. However, regulators need to act quickly in order to ensure these innovations are not stifled by legal obstacles.
Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/generative-ai-faces-more-legal-challenges/
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