Avoid Legal Issues When Using AI Tools In Your Business (by checking these 3 boxes)
Everybody's talking about AI. And I'm going to be one of those people.
Let's talk through some legal issues with using AI tools for your business. Specifically, three things to think through before you use AI tools.
AI tools are cropping up everywhere and they’re continuing to evolve. That’s what makes these AI legal issues so interesting.
Thing 1: What are the AI tool’s limitations?
The first thing to be aware of when you're using these tools is the tools limitations. Can they make any guarantees about accuracy in terms of the content that they're spitting out to you? Can they guarantee that whatever content it spits out to you is not infringing or plagiarizing someone else?
(Hint, according to chat GPT’s latest Terms of Use, they cannot make that guarantee.)
Thing 2: Copyright for AI-created works is complicated.
The next thing to be aware of if you're using AI tools in your business is that copyright issues are a little bit sticky. And by sticky, I mean copyright protection currently does not apply to AI-generated works.
That means you can put in the most detailed, specific prompt you want, and you don’t own the copyright to the result. Anything that the AI tool spits back out for you is not eligible for copyright protection. (At least not right now.)
Okay, you say. So I don't own the copyright in whatever it spits out to me. That's okay. I don't care. It's fine.
Is it though?
Because here’s what it means when you don’t own the copyright to your AI-generated works:
This means that if someone else takes that content — copies it from your website, let's say, and paste it into their website — there's nothing you can do about it. You don't own the copyright to it. It's not copyright protected.
So maybe it's worth it to you. Maybe it's not. But it’s definitely worth knowing the copyright rules around AI tools.
Thing 3: How is the platform going to use your content?
The last thing to know before using AI tools in your business is knowing how they're going to use your content. These AI machines learn from questions and input and interaction. Some AI platforms say right there in their Terms of Use that by you inputting your content, your prompts, etc., you're allowing them to make your content available to others and to use your content to improve the system.
So what I’m saying is maybe don't put your next brilliant business idea in your prompt.
To sum up…
Listen, I'm not saying using AI tools is right or wrong. I think it's very cool. I think we're still learning about it.
But I do think you should be eyes wide open and think about these things before using these tools in your business. I hope that you think through these three things before using AI tools in your business.