AI Legal & Regulatory News Update—Week Of 11/19/23 – New Technology

Below is this week’s tracker of the latest legal and
regulatory developments in the United States and in the EU. Sign up here to ensure you do not miss an
update.

AI Intellectual Property Update:

• The SAG-AFTRA strike has ended, with union members set to vote
  on a proposed contract. The tentative agreement’s provisions on AI
  state that if a producer plans to make a computer-generated
  character that has a main facial feature that clearly looks like a
  real actor (and use of the actor’s name and face to prompt the
  AI), the producer must first get permission from the actor. The
  agreement also requires that performers are compensated for the
  creation and use of any digital replicas of the performer.
• Adobe is working on a new AI-powered audio tool
  designed to break apart different layers of sound within a single
  recording. Called “Project Sound Lift,” the tool can
  automatically detect each sound and spit out separate files
  containing the background noise and the track users want to
  prioritize, such as someone’s voice or the sound of an
  instrument.
• YouTube plans to adopt new disclosure requirements and content labels
  for content created by generative AI. Starting next year, the video
  platform will “require creators to disclose when they’ve
  created altered or synthetic content that is realistic . . . For
  example, this could be an AI-generated video that realistically
  depicts an event that never happened, or content showing someone
  saying or doing something they didn’t actually do.”
  Penalties for not labeling AI-generated content could include
  takedowns and demonetization.

• Some of Bing’s search results now have AI-generated
  descriptions, according to a blog post from Microsoft. The company will use
  GPT-4 to garner “the most pertinent insights” from
  webpages and write summaries beneath Bing search results, and users
  can check which search result summaries are AI-generated.

AI Litigation Update

• Music publishers that sued AI company Anthropic last month
  (M.D. Tenn. No. 3:23-cv-01092) have asked the court to issue a preliminary
  injunction that would prevent Anthropic from reproducing or
  distributing copyrighted song lyrics. The music publishers argue
  that Anthropic’s use of their copyrighted works is not fair use
  and that publishers and their songwriters will suffer irreparable
  harm absent an injunction. The proposed injunction specifically
  requests that Anthropic (1) be ordered “to implement effective
  guardrails that prevent its current AI models from generating
  output that disseminates, in full or in part, the lyrics to
  compositions owned or controlled by Publishers” and (2) is
  prohibited from using unauthorized copies to train future
  models.

AI Policy Update—Federal

• The FCC has approved an open-ended notice of inquiry that
  asks how AI can fight robocalls, as well as inquiring into
  potential risks from the technology. “Responsible and ethical
  implementation of AI technologies is crucial to strike a balance,
  ensuring that the benefits of AI are harnessed to protect consumers
  from harm rather than amplify the risk they face in an increasingly
  digital landscape,” said Commissioner Anna Gomez.

• Congressional hearings which took place last week on AI topics
  include:

AI Policy Update—European Union:

• The EU AI Act is at the last phase of the EU legislative
  process, the so-called trilogue negotiations, where the European
  Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European
  Commission negotiate final text of the proposed AI Act:
  • Last week, France, Germany and Italy pushed against any type of
    regulation for foundation models. This week, Reuters reports that France, Germany and Italy have
    reached an agreement on how AI should be regulated. The three
    governments support “mandatory self-regulation through codes
    of conduct” for foundation models. However, the governments
    oppose “un-tested norms.” This agreement could accelerate
    negotiations at the EU level, and allow for a political agreement
    on the EU AI Act at the beginning of December.
  • Euractiv reports that the Members of the European
    Parliament involved in the EU AI Act will discuss the governance
    aspect of the legislation on November 21.
• The European Data Protection Supervisor, published a TechDispatch where it discusses the issue of
  “explainable” Artificial Intelligence, and stated that
  “it is therefore unacceptable to have a ‘black box’
  effect that hides the underlying logic of decisions made by
  AI.”
• The European Commission and the European High-Performance
  Computing Joint Undertaking have committed to open and widen access to the
  EU’s supercomputing resources for European AI start-ups, SMEs
  and the broader Artificial Intelligence community as part of the EU
  AI start-up initiative.
• The Italian Data Protection Authority issued Guidelines on the use of AI systems for
  provision of national healthcare services. The Guidelines focus on
  ten personal data protection principles enshrined in the EU’s
  General Data Protection Regulation, EU Member States’ and EU
  case law. The Guidelines focus on the Italian healthcare services
  but they can provide useful insights for the use of AI in
  healthcare in general.

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