GeoAI and the Law Newsletter
Keeping geospatial professionals informed on the legal and policy issues that will impact GeoAI.
GeoAI And the Law Post Election
The election of Donald Trump as President will have a significant impact on both the pace and scope of AI regulation AI in the U.S., as he has stated publicly that one of his first acts will be to issue a new Executive Order on AI that would replace President Biden’s Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. The new Executive Order would reportedly limit restrictions on AI with a goal of promoting AI development so that the U.S. would become “first” in AI. (Some may recall that previously then President Trump issued an Executive Order on AI, although this was before the broad availability of Generative AI.)
While it will be important to follow AI developments out of a Trump White House, it will still be necessary to keep up with the other aspects of the evolving legal and policy framework in the U.S. For example, there are still a number of lawsuits on copyright issues associated with both the training data used in Generative AI and the associated outputs that are working their way through the U.S. court system. In addition, California and other states will continue to issue laws, regulations and Executive Orders that will impact the development and use of AI.
Congress also will continue to consider AI legislation. Given the current political environment in the U.S., any such legislation is less likely to contain provisions regarding equity and discrimination (i.e., rights impacting”) but could address “safety-impacting” provisions, for example regarding critical infrastructure.
In addition, even if the Trump Administration revokes President Biden’s administration immediately upon taking office, it will be several months before he takes office. It will also take time for a new Executive Order to be implemented. In the meantime, federal agencies are likely to continue to issue new AI rules and policies.
Finally, even absent laws and regulations, customers will increasingly include AI-specific provisions in their contracts. Vendors will be asked to include representations and warranties on the training data used, the models, and testing as well as covenants limiting access to personal or proprietary data and requiring ongoing testing. Based upon the evolution of how cybersecurity and privacy provisions were added to contracts, large companies will be the first to insert such provisions into their vendor contracts. However, over time these clauses will become standard in most contracts.
