I don’t think safe harbor works here. Those platforms were platforms: they were neutral mediators between humans, and thus there was always a human at fault. AI companies don’t have a similar blame sink; they’re not mediating between anything, they are in the business of selling minds they manufactured.
One note: Platforms acting as “neutral mediators” is not a requirement for DMCA safe harbor; nor for the famous §230 of the CDA. In both cases, what matters is that the platform is not the author of the infringing content; some other human is. The author, not the platform, can be held liable for infringing content — so long as the platform complies with the law’s other requirements. Neutrality is not one.
AI companies don’t fit that rubric; not because they’re not “neutral mediators”, but rather because the systems they build and host are writing content (and, increasingly, performing other behaviors), rather than hosting content that some human author wrote.
I don’t think safe harbor works here. Those platforms were platforms: they were neutral mediators between humans, and thus there was always a human at fault. AI companies don’t have a similar blame sink; they’re not mediating between anything, they are in the business of selling minds they manufactured.
One note: Platforms acting as “neutral mediators” is not a requirement for DMCA safe harbor; nor for the famous §230 of the CDA. In both cases, what matters is that the platform is not the author of the infringing content; some other human is. The author, not the platform, can be held liable for infringing content — so long as the platform complies with the law’s other requirements. Neutrality is not one.
AI companies don’t fit that rubric; not because they’re not “neutral mediators”, but rather because the systems they build and host are writing content (and, increasingly, performing other behaviors), rather than hosting content that some human author wrote.