06 Jun AI (ChatGPT and the Like) and Your Company
AI (ChatGPT and the Like) and Your Company
We all know by now that artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay. The bots are here, so we may as well get used to it. With the myriad of unbelievable recent news reports – for example, ChatGPT can pass the bar exam (gulp!), recognize images and successfully bypass the “prove you are not a robot” CAPTCHA test – and cautionary and comical stories popping up on a daily basis, you may already be testing the waters and using a version of ChatGPT or similar AI tools.
Whenever you decide to start using AI tools, it pays to know how to use them. Fortunately for you, we read all of Open AI’s fine print (yep, we’re lawyers) and distilled what to do and not to do (from a lawyer’s point of view) when using their tools. This article is focused on Open AI because they own and operate ChatGPT, which currently is (in the form of ChatGPT-4) one of the most popular AI tools.
Best practices for using OpenAI’s ChatGPT
DON’T input any sensitive or confidential information. As between you and OpenAI, you will own your content, but OpenAI can still use that content to provide and maintain their services, which includes processing that content to improve OpenAI’s models. If you don’t want OpenAI to use your content as part of their non-API tools (like ChatGPT), you can disable that functionality by following these instructions. OpenAI also has a helpful Data Control FAQ page here.
DON’T assume you have the absolute rights to use the content that is output from OpenAI’s tools. Again, as between you and OpenAI, you own your content, but that doesn’t mean you have similar rights to others’ intellectual property, some of which may be mixed up in the content that OpenAI’s tools generate and output to you. And, content that is requested by and generated for other users will not be your property.
DON’T assume you can protect something if you didn’t create it. Here’s a case in point: if you create content with AI tools, it’s likely not protectable by US intellectual property laws, including copyright, particularly if it was created exclusively by the tool and with no human contribution.
DON’T represent that any content output is human-generated if that’s not true.
Best practices for business owners
DO Include a section in your company’s employee handbook about how to use (or not use) AI tools at work. Your handbook serves as a primary tool to guide employee behavior and should be updated when conditions change. The sudden availability of AI tools like ChatGPT is a big shift, and updates to your handbook can help your company avoid potential headaches (and unexpected expenses) down the line. If you would like to review your current handbook – we can help!
Given the novelty of ChatGPT and other similar AI tools, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding them. Following the above guidelines can help you err on the side of caution when it comes to using them for your business. Because AI is quickly evolving, OpenAI’s terms (and the terms for other similar tools) likely will be quickly changing as well. You can follow OpenAI’s release notes here.
In general, if you would like to know more about best practices in using AI tools in your business, then reach out to us for support and speak with a member of our legal team.
We will provide you with an experienced perspective you can trust.
Andrew Harris has been an attorney since 2005, and has worked in the legal industry since 2000. Prior to starting this firm, he worked for two years for a trial judge in Chicago, Illinois, and later worked in private practice for another five years for a national law firm that focused on securities litigation and regulation.
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