The US government has noticed the potential negative effects generative AI in fields such as journalism and content creation. Senator Amy Klobuchar, along with seven other Democrats, have called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice to investigate generative artificial intelligence products like ChatGPT for potential antitrust violations. press release.
“Recently, many dominant online platforms have introduced new generative AI features that respond to user queries by aggregating or, in some cases, simply returning online content from other sources or platforms,” the letter states. “The introduction of these new generative AI features further threatens the ability of journalists and other content creators to earn compensation for their vital work.”
The lawmakers further noted that traditional search results lead users to publishers’ websites, while AI-generated summaries keep users on a search platform “where only that platform can benefit from user attention through advertising and data collection.”
These products also have significant competitive consequences that distort content markets. When a generative AI function responds directly to a query, it often forces a content creator whose content is relegated to the bottom of the user interface to compete with content generated from their own work.
The fact that AI hacks news sites and then doesn’t even direct users to the original source could be “exceptional conduct or a method of unfair competition in violation of antitrust laws.” (This is potential violation of copyright lawsbut that’s a whole other legal battle.)
Lawmakers have already proposed several bills designed to protect artists, journalists and others from unauthorized use of generative AI. Three senators introduced in July COPIED Law to combat and control the rise of artificial intelligence content and deep fraud. At the end of the month, a group of senators presented NO FAKESa law that makes it illegal to make digital recreations of sound or the like without a person’s consent.
AI poses a particularly big risk to journalism, both local and global, by removing the sources of revenue that enable original and investigative reporting. The New York Timesfor one, gave examples ChatGPT, which provides users with “virtually verbatim excerpts” from paid articles. OpenAI recently adopted it is impossible to teach generative AI without copyrighted materials.
