Do AI Chatbots Have First Amendment Protection?

It sounds like the plot of a science fiction movie.

A teenager develops an affection for an AI chatbot. The “relationship” goes bad. The teen tells the chatbot that he wants to “come home,” which the AI chatbot says he should do, and the teen then commits suicide. The family of the child sues the app developer, and the developer’s defense is the first amendment rights of the AI chatbot.

The First Amendment Defense in Suicide Cases

That’s exactly the case that was recently heard by a Florida Court. And its not the first case to claim first amendment as a defense in a suicide case.

In many cases, the families of teenagers who killed themselves after listening to music sued the artists or creators of that music. Courts have uniformly held that the first amendment prohibits suing a songwriter or artist on the basis of lyrics in a song.

What About AI Chatbots?

But does that first amendment defense hold up in a lawsuit against an AI chatbot? The issue isn’t so much the chatbot’s right to free speech, something that would be difficult to argue. Rather, it has to do with the human recipient’s right to information and communication from an AI chatbot, which is a first amendment protected activity.

“Punishing” AI chatbots by prohibiting their right to “speak,” would effectively limit and restrict users’ ability to access first amendment protected information, the AI company (founded by Google) argued to the court.

For now however, the court has ruled that language models used by AI are not speech. They are no more than words that are put together by a computer, according to the judge in the case.

As could be expected, the company said that chatbots are new technologies and that it will take time for the law to adapt to those technologies.

Laws and Regulations

Many chatbots and AI companies do have restrictions, for example, having age limitations, or flagging or avoiding speech that could promote self harm or suicide.

While there aren’t many laws that regulate what AI chatbots can say, there have been many attempts in state legislatures to require disclosure to users, as to when AI is talking vs. when an actual human is talking. Whether those laws will be held up constitutionally is yet to be determined; many companies contend that if they do not want to disclose that they are using AI, they cannot be compelled to disclose that fact under the first amendment.

Do Companies Have First Amendment Protection?

Before you say companies don’t have first amendment protections—they actually do, to some extent.

This was the rationale behind the politically controversial Citizens United vs. FEC Supreme Court case, which generally held that companies could not be restricted from making certain political contributions, as political contributions are a form of speech.

But of course, companies “speak” through their human owners or officers—AI does not. It remains to be seen whether courts will eventually rule that AI always or never has first amendment protection, but for now, courts are leaning towards “no.”

Is your business in trouble for something it did or said? Reach out to the West Palm Beach commercial litigation attorneys at Pike & Lustig for more information.

Sources:

courthousenews.com/florida-judge-rules-ai-chatbots-not-protected-by-first-amendment/

fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/citizens-united-v-fec/

firstamendment.mtsu.edu/encyclopedia/case/corporations-first-amendment-rights/