Cybersecurity & Tech Surveillance & Privacy

The Lawfare Podcast: Cox and Wyden on Section 230 and Generative AI

Quinta Jurecic, Jen Patja, Matt Perault, Ron Wyden, Chris Cox
Tuesday, May 2, 2023, 12:00 PM
Among the many issues AI products raise is whether or not their outputs are protected by Section 230, the foundational statute that shields websites from liability for third-party content.

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Generative AI products have been tearing up the headlines recently. Among the many issues these products raise is whether or not their outputs are protected by Section 230, the foundational statute that shields websites from liability for third-party content.

On this episode of Arbiters of TruthLawfare’s occasional series on the information ecosystem, Lawfare Senior Editor Quinta Jurecic and Matt Perault, Director of the Center on Technology and Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, talked through this question with Senator Ron Wyden and Chris Cox, formerly a U.S. congressman and SEC chairman. Cox and Wyden drafted Section 230 together in 1996—and they’re skeptical that its protections apply to generative AI. 


Quinta Jurecic is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a senior editor at Lawfare. She previously served as Lawfare's managing editor and as an editorial writer for the Washington Post.
Jen Patja is the editor and producer of The Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.
Matt Perault is the director of the Center on Technology Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a consultant on technology policy issues.
Senator Ron Wyden serves as a representative for the state of Oregon. He is a member of the Democratic Party and a former educator.
Chris Cox is a former U.S. Congressman, representing California's 48th district, from 1989 to 2005 and SEC chairman from 2005 to 2009.

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