As AI becomes more prevalent and is used by businesses, brands, and individuals worldwide, it's important to reflect on and discuss where the line is between what is legal and ethical when using AI to generate content, whether text, images, or videos. When creating content with AI, it is also important to discuss what is “correct” in terms of the amount of human effort involved.
When discussing the legal implications of using AI to create content, there are certainly grey areas. When AI is using data on the public Web, it is using other people’s work to generate content. This can lead to copyright issues and lawsuits depending on the severity of the case. Authorship can also become muddled. Is it the AI platform's work? The person submitting the prompt to the site, or the artists whose work is being used? Another legal aspect that can be called into question is Fair Use. If AI takes a piece of content and develops new content from it, where does it cross the line into copyright infringement?
I believe we can answer these questions by discussing how much human effort goes into creating the content. There is a 30% rule for AI that requires 30% human effort in AI-generated content. At its core, the 30% rule for AI represents a human–AI partnership. AI takes responsibility for roughly 70% of execution, especially for repetitive, data-heavy, or pattern-based tasks. Humans intentionally retain 30% for quality control, contextual judgment, ethical oversight, and values-driven decisions. This also allows someone to take responsibility for any mistakes or errors made. Having a rule in place lets teams use the tools as needed while maintaining a human-oriented design.
Alongside the legal concerns and issues with AI for content creation are the ethical implications of using AI for content creation. AI ethical literacy gives leaders an understanding of the potential issues AI could cause, allowing them to protect their companies from lawsuits and reputational damage.
One example of AI-created content that ties in both legal and ethical concerns and implications is Deepfakes. Deepfakes have become popular in recent years, with content created to manipulate well-known figures and brands. Deepfakes have been weaponized to commit fraud. For example, a finance worker at a multinational firm recently paid out $25 million to fraudsters who used deepfake technology to pose as the company’s chief financial officer and other company employees in a video call. This raises the legal question of whether AI-generated content must be labeled as such and whether sources need proper verification. Companies creating these deepfakes must also develop ethical guidelines to protect both individuals creating content and the brands as a whole. Below is an example of a deepfake that went viral in the past few years of Morgan Freeman “discussing” the impact of AI and content creation through AI tools.
