Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been making remarkable advancements in recent years and has become an integral part of many industries and businesses. Will AI take our jobs? Maybe in some cases and sectors. Do we know what the true influence of AI will be on business in the long term? No – but right now, it’s not necessarily something we should be afraid of, despite what Hollywood Blockbusters might suggest. AI is currently only being used as a tool, although admittedly the gap that bridges what humans can do in comparison to AI is getting smaller all the time.
Everyday Artificial Intelligence
It is important to remember that you have probably been using AI in some form for many years without even realising it. Did you know that AI is responsible for separating your junk emails from those that matter? Similarly, soon you’ll no longer have to spend 3 hours on a mind-bending spreadsheet, and instead on something that will improve your business, such as providing face to face customer service with your clients – that’s a real human interaction that AI can’t easily replace.
AI machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision has the potential to further revolutionise the way that we live and work, but they also bring a host of legal and ethical questions. As AI continues to become more prevalent, it is crucial to consider the legalities surrounding its development and use. The UK currently has very limited regulation in place relating to the use of AI. Although the Government has recently put forward its own proposals, these take a less-centralised approach than the EU, and are based on six key principles to both promote innovation and protect the public.
The research release of ChatGPT has plunged AI back into the headlines, mainly since it is more accessible, and increasingly one of the most well-known platforms. At the moment, ChatGPT seems less risky than previous attempts at rolling out AI chat bots such as Microsoft’s Tay, a Twitter Bot which repeated racist and misogynist comments fed to it by other users in less than a day.
Legal Implications…
Aside from regulation, one of the biggest legal issues at the heart of AI adoption is intellectual property ownership. In fact, Getty Images is currently in the process of attempting to sue AI Art Generator Stable Diffusion for copyright infringement. This came after the alleged use of 12 million images to “train” its AI model “without permission or compensation”. If an AI system has taken small amounts from millions of images to create a new one, a derivative work may only have been created and only be protectable in its own right if it is significantly derivative from the original. The judgement in this case may help to illustrate how old law can be effectively applied to new and rapidly advancing technology that may outpace its development.
It’s likely that similar could happen if ChatGPT scrapes other content from the web, the new quickly generated content may lead to infringement disputes if it becomes key to generating income for your business.
Further legal issues to be clarified around AI are privacy, discrimination, and general bias of the user and the algorithms that drive AI systems. What if the system is shaped by its user to encourage a particular bias that will then be pushed upon the consumer and gradually upon society? Right now, we don’t have any of the answers and may not be asking the right questions.
It is important for our governments to address these concerns in order to ensure that AI is developed and used in a way that is safe, and legal. We expect that within the next few years more and more disputes will be brought before the courts for issues related to AI.
If you would like advice about the adoption of Artificial Intelligence for your business, or need to talk to us about how your own interests may have been affected by them, please get in touch at hello@glaisyers.com
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