Tech Rep Defends Chatbots on First Amendment, Section 230 Grounds
First Amendment questions are lingering when it comes to censoring online chatbots, even when they encourage users to kill themselves, a tech industry executive told the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pressed Information…
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Technology Industry Council General Counsel John Miller about an online user who took his life after interacting with an online chatbot that encouraged him to do so. Hawley argued individuals and their families, including parents of young users, should be able to sue tech companies for such incidents. Miller said companies don’t want chatbots “doing those sorts of things,” but AI is responsible for a lot of good. The technology has been useful in cancer research, for example, he said. Asked if companies should be sued for AI's negative impacts, Miller said, “Under the current law, that’s probably not allowable,” alluding to Communications Decency Act Section 230, which has enabled technological innovation and which the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld, Miller said. Hawley asked Miller if he would support legislation the senator sponsored with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act. The proposed law would clarify that Section 230 doesn’t apply to claims based on generative AI activity (see 2306150059). Miller said he hasn’t reviewed the bill but argued there are “other equities at play in this discussion,” including the First Amendment. Hawley asked Miller if a chatbot encouraging a teenager to kill himself is First Amendment-protected speech: “Is that your position?” Miller said it’s not his position, but “I don’t think the question’s been resolved.”