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AI hallucinations: fact vs fiction

21 July 2023 / Chloe Flascher
Issue: 8034 / Categories: Features , Artificial intelligence , Cyber , Technology , Libel , Defamation
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Artificial intelligence tools are not (yet) above creating false information: who could be liable for the serious harm suffered as a result of publishing that information? Chloe Flascher examines a thorny legal issue
  • While we await specifics on AI regulation in the UK, this article examines the libel risk in this jurisdiction faced by users of generative AI systems who republish false output data.
  • It examines the importance of companies devising internal policies on the use of generative AI in the workplace which properly factor in the risks faced by users republishing false output data about third parties.

It is well-publicised that ChatGPT recently invented a sexual harassment scandal, naming a real law professor as the accused (citing a fake Washington Post article as evidence in support of the allegation). Not only did no such article exist, but the real professor had never been accused of harassing a student, nor had he been present on the trip to Alaska described by the chatbot during which the

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NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
David Lammy, Ellie Reeves and Baroness Levitt have taken up office at the Ministry of Justice, following the cabinet reshuffle
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