This week and likely next, I'll be serializing my Large Libel Models? Liability for AI Output draft. I had already posted on why I think such AI programs' communications are reasonably perceived as factual assertions, and why disclaimers about possible errors are insufficient to avoid liability. Here, I want to explain why I think § 230 doesn't protect the AI companies, either.
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To begin with, 47 U.S.C. § 230 likely doesn't immunize material produced by AI programs. Section 230 states that, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." "[I]nformation content provider" is defined to cover "any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service."[1] A lawsuit against an AI company would aim to treat it as publisher or speaker of information provided by itself, as an entity "that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of [such] information."[2]
