Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the legal landscape. It has generated novel and complex questions across virtually every area of legal practice — from intellectual property and privacy to contract liability and regulatory compliance. Courts, legislatures, and practitioners are only beginning to develop answers.
Defamation is one striking example. AI-generated outputs include false, harmful statements about real people and real companies. Some are pure “hallucinations.” Either way, this is forcing courts to apply traditional defamation doctrines in novel ways. Who is the “speaker” when an algorithm generates the statement? Can a probabilistic language model act with “actual malice”? Does a user’s awareness of AI’s potential to fabricate increase the prospect for liability?
These are not academic questions. Businesses are losing customers, reputations are being damaged, and litigation is mounting. The attached note surveys the issues, identifies fault lines where traditional doctrine is straining under the weight of new technology, and offers guidance for plaintiffs, AI platforms, and the companies and individuals who use these tools.
Read more here: https://www.quinnemanuel.com/the-firm/publications/client-alert-defamation-in-the-ai-era/