Utilization and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence: Discussions on Prohibiting Chat GPT

Traditionally, legal professionals have been discussed in relation to the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI).　There are certainly many legal discussions concerning artificial intelligence (AI), including copyright and personal information protection.  From the viewpoint of legal professionals, it is natural to consider the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), in order to protect human rights.

On the other hand, artificial intelligence (AI) has enormous potential and can bring great benefits to society.  Applications of Chat GPT also emerged very rapidly about one month after GPT-4 became available in Japan on March 15, 2023.  Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, and it is difficult even for such researchers and engineers, let alone legal professionals, to keep up to date with the latest developments and advances in this field.

The problem of Japan’s super-aged society is one of the most serious in the world.  More than 15% of the population is aged 75 years or older.  Younger people and the working generations cannot escape from the super-aged society that will inevitably cause suffering and problems such as increased nursing care, illness, aging and death of someone close, increased social security costs, higher tax rates, reduced pensions, etc. which will become problems not only for the elderly but also for society as a whole.

From the viewpoint of the protection of human rights, it will be important to alleviate the suffering caused by the aging of society through technological advances in artificial intelligence (AI).  For example, the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) contributes to the advancement of drugs and medicines.  Moreover, even when a labor force population declines in a super-aged society, the reduction in the labor force population will not become a problem if society can sufficiently utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to its advantage.  The utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) will help relieve many people from suffering and contribute to the realization of human rights.

Under the current situation that Japan faces, it is necessary to consider, including the potential of technology, etc., whether excessive regulations on artificial intelligence (AI) are desirable from the viewpoint of human rights guaranteed under the Japanese Constitution.  Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has enormous potential, but even AI researchers have expressed various views about the technological potential and its future.

In this way, legal issues related to artificial intelligence (AI) are extremely difficult issues.  When considering legal issues, it would be necessary to discuss them not only with legal professionals but also within society as a whole, including specialists who are familiar with artificial intelligence technologies and their social and economic influence, as well as a wide range of people affected by artificial intelligence (AI).

In this sense, when considering legal issues related to artificial intelligence (AI) in Japanese courts, the third-party opinion solicitation system (Article 105-2-11 of the Patent Law; applied mutatis mutandis in Article 65(6) of the Patent Law and Article 30 of the Utility Model Law) introduced by the 2021 Patent Law Amendment (Law No. 42 of 2021) could be helpful.  Currently, the introduced system is about patent infringement lawsuits, etc.  However, it will be useful to introduce the system to other intellectual property cases and general court cases, as in the system of Amicus Brief in the United States.  In Japan, prior to the Patent Law Amendment 2021, there was a case where the Intellectual Property High Court requested third-party opinions (Judgment rendered on May 16, 2014 (Case No. 2013 (Ne) 10043, Appeal case seeking declaratory judgment of absence of obligations)).

There seems to be an aspect that the world has already become too complicated for only legal professionals to discuss and draw conclusions.  Legal issues related to artificial intelligence (AI) also need to be discussed among many different people, including technical issues and the impact on society.

The capability of Chat GPT has considerably improved with the advent of GPT-4, but it seems yet to be at a very early stage of its development.  Society as a whole needs to consider whether regulations are really necessary, whilst taking into consideration the technological potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its social implications.