A string of challenges to Section 230 — the law that shields
online platforms from liability for user-generated content — has failed in the
last several weeks.
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Most recently, the Supreme Court declined Tuesday to review
a suit about exploitative content on Reddit. But the debate over what
responsibility tech companies have for harmful content is far from settled —
and generative artificial intelligence tools like the ChatGPT chatbot could
open a new line of questions.
Does it apply?
The law’s 1996 drafters told DealBook that it does not. “We
set out to protect hosting,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Platforms are immune
only to suits about material created by others, not their own work. “If you are
partly complicit in content creation, you don’t get the shield,” agreed Chris
Cox, a former Republican representative from California. But they admit that
these distinctions, which once seemed simple, are already becoming more
difficult to make.
What about AI search engines?
Typically, search engines are considered vehicles for
information rather than content creators, and search companies have benefited
from Section 230 protection. Chatbots generate content, and they are most
likely beyond protection. But tech giants such as Microsoft and Google are
integrating chat and search, complicating matters. “If some search engines
start to look more like chat output, the lines will be blurred,” Wyden said.
A deadly recipe?
Generative AI tools have already been used to make
intentionally harmful content. And hallucinations — the falsehoods that
generative AI tools create (like court cases that never existed) — are a
significant problem. If a user prompts an AI for cocktail instructions and it
offers a poisonous concoction, the algorithm operator’s liability is obvious,
said Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University and a Section 230
expert.
But most situations won’t be that clear-cut, and that poses
a risk, Goldman said. He fears that anger over immunity for social media
platforms threatens nuanced debate about the next generation of tech
development.
“The blossoming of AI comes at one of the most precarious
times amid a maturing tech backlash,” Goldman said. “We need some kind of
immunity for people who make the tools,” he added. “Without it, we’re never
going to see the full potential of AI.”
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