AI’s other free speech fight

There’s been a lot of concern over what AI chatbots communicate to users—from conversations that may encourage unhealthy emotional attachments, to advice on committing crimes. Much of the debate over regulatory proposals and lawsuits concerning chatbots has focused on speech rights. There are open questions over whether outputs can be considered a form of legally protected speech. Yet an overlooked aspect of these issues is the potential right of users to access chatbot outputs. The First Amendment protects not only the right to speak, but also the right to listen. Courts have found, for instance, that people have a right to receive mail from foreign propagandists and religious leaflets from proselytizers. Some legal scholars say that figuring out how or whether to apply listeners’ rights to AI will be increasingly important to solve in the coming years, and may even become more significant than the speech issues in litigation.