Congress hopes to advance comprehensive legislation to regulate AI in a matter of months, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told a Center for Strategic & International Studies event Wednesday.
Section 230
Generative-AI content shouldn’t be protected by Communications Decency Act Section 230, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told a New America event Tuesday.
Lawmakers must hold companies liable when their artificial intelligence systems cause harm and should consider major updates to Section 230, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told NTIA in comments released last week.
Legislation introduced Wednesday for regulating artificial intelligence shows some lawmakers are “more keen” to regulate than to “understand” the technology, NetChoice said in a statement Thursday. Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced the No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act Wednesday, as expected (see 2306090046). The legislation clarifies that Communications Decency Act Section 230 doesn’t apply to claims based on generative AI activity, “ensuring consumers have the tools they need to protect themselves from harmful content produced by the latest advancements in AI technology,” Hawley’s office said. Said NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo: “The bill would jeopardize important tools like autocorrect, content recommendations and search engines. Lawmakers shouldn’t rush to release regulations before seriously engaging with the history and functionality of AI tools, many of which have been publicly available for years."
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed legislation for a second time Thursday that would allow news outlets to negotiate with the tech industry for compensation when platforms host news content (see 2306140042). Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told us a potential floor vote is a “long way” off, and ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said during the hearing he expects the bill will ultimately “go nowhere.”
Meta exposed its artificial intelligence technology to risks of spam, fraud, malware and privacy abuse by allowing unrestrained release of its Large Language Model Meta AI (LLaMA) program, wrote Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Tuesday.
Congress should revoke Section 230 if it continues to fail in passing legislation to hold Big Tech accountable for online harms, including child exploitation and illegal drug sales, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and several other members Thursday.
Here are last week’s most-read stories on court proceedings affecting telecom, tech and media that were covered in-depth by our sister publication Communications Litigation Today. Current subscribers can click the reference number hyperlink or search the story title. Nonsubscribers can gain access by signing up for a complimentary preview.
ChatGPT creator OpenAI supports deploying a new federal agency to regulate artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies, OpenAI CEO Samuel Altman told Senate Judiciary Committee members Tuesday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 21-0 Thursday to pass legislation intended to hold tech platforms more accountable for hosting child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., received sweeping support for his Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment (Stop CSAM) Act (S-1199). The bill had zero co-sponsors heading into Thursday’s markup.