Generative AI Insights from the FTC

Is generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) worth the potential harm? Lina M. Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), believes the FTC should closely monitor the use of GenAI in business.  Additional considerations for the FTC are how to regulate the use of AI to prevent its use as a method of deception, unfair competition or discrimination.

Other concerns discussed at this FTC roundtable are the creative limits of GenAI, as explained in this ArentFox Schiff article.  Where does generative AI fit in with writers, musicians and artists? What types of copyright should be applied to the works created by GenAI? Roundtable participants, representatives from artist organizations and unions, expressed concerns about GenAI using copyrighted works without creator consent, credit or compensation. They advocated for regulations mandating the use of public domain or legally licensed data and transparency in training data sources.

This roundtable discussion was just the beginning and regulation will likely follow.  This panel pushed for ethical and responsible AI use and emphasized that should new licensing be negotiated, it would be an “affirmative consent” rather than an “opt-out” model for AI to learn from copyrighted works.

As this Today’s General Counsel article suggests, it is important to have a company strategy to prevent AI risk, whether the company uses AI or refrains from it.  It is hard to calculate what risks AI will pose but taking time to establish ground rules can keep you ahead of the damage.