Home > Journals > St. John's Law Review > Vol. 98 > No. 5
Document Type
Note
Abstract
(Excerpt)
This Note argues that under the material contribution test for determining service provider liability under Section 230(c), software developers are likely covered under the CDA for civil and criminal liability for chatbot and other generative AI outputs. Part I will review the legislative purpose and subsequent case law of Section 230(c) of the CDA. Part I will also discuss the material contribution test, the prevailing standard for determining service provider liability developed by the Ninth Circuit and generally adopted across federal courts. Part II will provide an overview of how chatbots work and present the state of chatbot regulation and litigation. Part III will then argue that because chatbots are “neutral tools” that merely translate pre-existing, publicly available data to produce a response, under the material contribution test, software developers cannot be said to have developed the content themselves so as to be held liable. Accordingly, chatbot developers will likely be immune under Section 230(c). Finally, Part IV will consider alternative ways to hold developers accountable.