Is AI Taking Over Your Business?
Is AI Taking Over Your Business?
Not…yet. But the time for keeping your head buried in the sand (which was my original plan😅) is past.
You must understand the basics of the responsibilities and the legal consequences of AI in your business because even if you aren’t using it, everyone around you is.
Girija Patel, business and IP lawyer and host of the Law Chat podcast, and I recently had an engaging discussion about the impact of AI on business and intellectual property rights.
I will not attempt a full discussion of the issues, but here are a few to be mindful of:
Copyright Protection
Determining copyright ownership of AI-generated content is a complex and evolving area of law. However, the US Copyright Office has been very clear that AI-generated content--even if produced from a text prompt written by a human--is not copyrightable and therefore is not protected by US copyright laws.
Copyright protection may be obtained for the parts of such content created by a human. “If a machine and a human work together, but you can separate what each of them has done, then [copyright] will only focus on the human part,” per Daniel Gervais, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School.
If it is difficult or impossible to separate the human’s contributions from the machine’s contributions, copyrightability will depend on how much control or influence the human has on the machine’s output.
Transparency
On a day-to-day basis, it's crucial for you to be and demand that your contractors be transparent about the extent to which AI is used in products or services. Whether researching or generating content, disclosing the involvement of AI is necessary to comply with contractual obligations that require the delivery of original materials that are capable of copyright protection.
Transparency from your Contractors – You need to know the source of the materials that they deliver to you. Add provisions to your contracts that set forth your expectations. Is it important that AI not be used at all? Say it in the contract. You are okay with some use but want to know the extent of AI material in the final version? Say it in the contract.
Transparency with your Clients – Similarly, what are your client's expectations? Are you delivering social media posts or are you delivering evergreen, revenue-generating materials? They probably won’t care too much about whether the former is copyrightable, but they most certainly will care about the latter.
Platform Transparency– Understand the terms of the AI platform that you use. Do they have the right to use the training content? If they don’t, they can’t give you any rights to the output. Of course, don’t share sensitive info. The chat history may be reviewed or used to improve its services. Finally, always check the facts: “While we have safeguards, ChatGPT may give you inaccurate information. It’s not intended to give advice.”
As AI continues to shape our world, understanding its implications for creating a scalable and saleable business is crucial.
If you’d like to hear our entire conversation, check out the podcast episode here.
Got questions about legally and ethically using AI in your business? Hit reply.
Cheers! 🥂
Erin