New Senate bill aims to provide more certainty on rights and obligations of AI developers and deployers, protect rights holders

The AI Accountability and Personal Data Protection Act is a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate on Monday by Senators Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Hawley (R-Mo.). The legislation would grant individuals a private right of action against the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials or personal information to train artificial intelligence systems. The bill aims to address ongoing uncertainty surrounding the development and use of AI, recent legal challenges attempting to apply existing laws to emerging technologies, and growing concerns from rights holders.

Specifically, the bill prohibits the following conduct without express consent of the individual or rights holder of the “covered data”:

(A) the training of a generative artificial intelligence system that is sold, rented, licensed, or otherwise used by the provider of the generative artificial intelligence system; and

(B) the generation, by a generative artificial intelligence system, of any covered data that pertains to an individual, including content that imitates, replicates, or is substantially derived from the covered data of the individual.

The bill defines covered data as personal information and registered and unregistered copyright protected materials. The bill adopts a definition of personal information that is similar to the California Consumer Privacy Act, and provides for a private right of action with the potential for injunctive relief and the greater of actual or statutory damage of $1,000, though how those damages may accrue is not defined.  Consent is the only statutory defense. 

While the bill was just introduced and neither California nor New York, two states who have historically sought exemptions for any Federal comprehensive privacy law, have weighed in, the early bi-partisan effort signals the wide-ranging common interest in regulating Artificial Intelligence and providing more certainty to businesses who develop and deploy Artificial Intelligence systems, while protecting rights holders.  

A copy of the bill is available here.

If you or your organization has questions regarding the bill or the evolving legal risks and issues surrounding the development and use of AI, contact attorney Kenneth Suh.