While AI has steadily worked its way into the enterprise and business vernacular over many years, gen AI has not only become an abrupt and immediate force unto itself, but also an overarching AI accelerant. Not without warning signs, however.
Gen AI has the potential to magnify existing risks around data privacy laws that govern how sensitive data is collected, used, shared, and stored. It can also expose companies to future legislation. In response, although late out of the blocks, is greater scrutiny.
Europe, for instance, continues to get up to speed with its AI Act, which now addresses gen AI despite the Act first proposed before the advent of gen AI. Then there are the lawsuits. Several gen AI vendors, including OpenAI, Microsoft, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and others, have had suits filed against them. These complaints, filed by a variety of different copyright holders, allege the companies of training their AIs on copyrighted data—images, code, and text.
There’s also congressional hearings and petitions to pause AI development, inclusive of gen AI. Any of these could potentially put pressure on regulators or legislators to put limits on its use.
Even individual cities are getting in on the action. In July, for example, New York City started enforcing new rules about the use of AI in hiring decisions. These rules require automated decision-making tools to undergo bias audits, and job candidates notified about their use. Similar rules are under consideration in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, and California.
