When AI’s Teacher is Big Tech: The Intersection of AI, Antitrust and Copyright

On October 6, 2020, the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcommittee released 400+ pages of findings of its more than 16-month long investigation into the state of competition in the digital economy, focusing especially on the business practices of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. Two weeks later, the DOJ filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google. The House Committee report discusses "artificial intelligence" numerous times and explains how big tech firms collect and use data to power AI tools like smart home devices (e.g., Alexa), autonomous vehicles, and even less familiar but equally important tools in agriculture and health care.

Large data sets are essential for AI. Big tech has and can acquire comprehensive rights in essential data sets, potentially controlling certain AI tools. This talk examines the competition and copyright law issues surrounding big tech’s acquisition, use and licensing of data sets needed for AI tools. 

Katherine B. Forrest is a former U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. During her tenure on the bench, Ms. Forrest presided over several thousand cases, including over 100 trials. She has authored more than 1,000 opinions and she sat by designation on the Second Circuit for dozens of appeals. Over the course of her 28-year career, she has been regarded as a leader in legal issues relating to technology, including the digital environment, high‑speed trading and content distribution (from both the content provider and distributor sides).