October 5th, 2023
Business Owners Should Pr…

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a multitude of uses in business, from authoring emails to aggregating business data. While AI is still evolving, some business owners may wish to err on the side of caution when using AI to avoid copyright infringement and other issues.

Recent court cases may have an impact on AI and copyright law. A few examples include:

  • A recent class action lawsuit filed against OpenAI (which operates ChatGPT) alleges that OpenAI committed copyright infringement by using text from the internet to train its language models.
  • Getty Images and a group of artists filed lawsuits against Stability AI, claiming it used copyrighted photos to train its image-generating tools.
  • GitHub, OpenAI, and Microsoft were sued for copyright infringement for using licensed code to create Co-pilot software, a tool that auto-completes software code.

AI depends upon large amounts of data to provide proper output for the user. As illustrated in the court cases above, some copyright data may be scraped from the internet without permission and used to develop AI software.

What policies should business owners put in place regarding AI?

As a precaution, some government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration have issued policies instructing employees and contractors to limit the use of AI on networks and equipment. The policies were also developed due to cybersecurity concerns.

Some of the best practices a business owner should consider include the following:

  • Before utilizing an AI product, review how the product was developed. Could it have been developed using potentially copyrighted data sources? If so, consider another product.
  • Review ongoing legal developments regarding AI use to ensure it complies with local, state, and federal developments.
  • Design policies for employee use of AI to minimize risk, including copyright-related issues.

Help is available

The attorneys at O’Reilly Rancilio are available to develop policies and evaluate risks related to AI use in business. To speak with an attorney, call 586-726-1000 or visit our website.

Categories: Business, Uncategorized