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11 May 2023CopyrightSarah Speight

US Congress to hear OpenAI CEO’s testimony on AI

Chief of company behind ChatGPT to testify before Senate in bid to establish AI rules | Hearing ‘marks critical first step’ in Congress’ efforts to oversee AI | EU AI Act given green light.

The CEO of OpenAI is preparing to testify for the first time before the US Senate on efforts to oversee and establish safeguards for AI.

Sam Altman, the 38-year-old entrepreneur behind OpenAI, which created the generative artificial intelligence tools DALL-E2, ChatGPT and GPT-4, will provide his testimony to help US Congress shape rules and safeguards surrounding AI.

His responses will be watched closely by the global IP community as it grapples with the challenges poses by AI to IP protections, at a time when AI innovation brings ever-increasing uses for both businesses and individuals.

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley, chair and ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law—which has jurisdiction over legal issues pertaining to technology and social media platforms, including the impacts of new or emerging technologies—will convene a hearing on Tuesday, May 16.

The hearing, titled “Oversight of AI: Rules for Artificial Intelligence”, will include testimony from Sam Altman along with Gary Marcus, professor emeritus at New York University and an outspoken critic of AI; and Christina Montgomery, vice president and chief privacy and trust officer at IBM.

‘Promise and pitfalls’

Blumenthal said in a press release published yesterday, May 10: “Artificial intelligence urgently needs rules and safeguards to address its immense promise and pitfalls.

“This hearing begins our Subcommittee’s work in overseeing and illuminating AI’s advanced algorithms and powerful technology. I look forward to working with my colleagues as we explore sensible standards and principles to help us navigate this uncharted territory.

Hawley added: “Artificial intelligence will be transformative in ways we can’t even imagine, with implications for Americans’ elections, jobs, and security.

“This hearing marks a critical first step towards understanding what Congress should do.”

The hearing is one of several strands of activity by the US Congress in efforts to understand and regulate AI. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) held a Listening Session on AI inventorship in February; and is currently inviting comments for a consultation on the same topic, the deadline for which is May 15.

And last week, the White House hosted a  meeting, where Sam Altman and CEOs from three other companies at the forefront of AI innovation—Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic; Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft; and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet—discussed the risks associated with the technology.

AI in the news

Such efforts by US lawmakers come against a swathe of IP cases that have emerged as AI innovation grows at a phenomenal pace.

For example, AI developers Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt recently retaliated against a trio of artists who filed a class action against them over the alleged infringement of their work by the developers’ generative AI systems.

Stephen Thaler’s relentless pursuit to have his AI machine DABUS named as an inventor reached a brick wall last month when the US Supreme Court rejected his appeal for a writ of certiorari—just weeks after the UK High Court also knocked him back.

And in February, the US Copyright Office ( USCO) partially rescinded the copyright for a graphic novel which used AI to generate the book’s images.

Europe green-lights EU AI Act

Meanwhile, the European Parliament voted for the EU AI Act this morning (May 11), green-lighting the legislation for plenary adoption in June. The Act proposes the first law of its kind on AI by a major regulator.

Commenting on the news, Ellen Keenan‑O'Malley, senior associate at EIP, said: “Given the rapid developments we’re all seeing in the artificial intelligence sphere, the EU AI Act has been voted through at a very opportune time and countries outside of the union will be observing very closely how businesses react to the new rules and how they will be enforced.

“AI operates in a global market and although the EU is a key market…there are signs of a divergence in approach across different jurisdictions with the US and the UK looking to take a more ‘pro-innovation’ and decentralised approach.

“This is a cause of concern for businesses who are already working hard to assess the potential impact different regulatory regimes will have on how they should approach AI governance internally and manage possible liabilities in their own supply chains.”

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Copyright
18 May 2023   The USPTO director acknowledges data risks but is optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence, finds Tom Phillips at the International Trademark Association’s annual meeting in Singapore.
Copyright
7 February 2023   US lawsuit is latest in a wave of litigation by copyright owners against AI developers | Complaint alleges infringement of 12 million images | Stability AI | Microsoft | GitHub | OpenAI | MidJourney.
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7 August 2023   Dispute dates back to 2015 when ChatGPT developer founded company | Artificial intelligence research company accuses the firm of manufacturing evidence to gain a trademark registration.