n SEO – How to ensure compliance and navigate legal challenges

Artificial intelligence (AI), which is a powerful tool to improve online visibility, will be a key component for all brands.

Legal considerations and new regulations are inevitable when integrating AI in marketing strategies. Agencies must be careful to navigate these.

This article will reveal:

• How to minimize the legal risks associated with AI-enhanced marketing strategies for businesses, SEO agencies and media companies.
• Tools to reduce AI bias, and a process for evaluating the quality of AI-generated content.
• How to navigate the main AI implementation issues for agencies in order to maintain efficiency and compliance with their clients.

Legal Compliance Considerations

Intellectual property and copyright

When using AI for SEO and media, it is important to adhere to intellectual property laws and copyright laws.

AI systems scrape and analyse vast amounts of data including copyrighted materials.

OpenAI has already been sued multiple times for copyright and privacy.

The company is facing lawsuits alleging the unauthorized use copyrighted texts for training ChatGPT, and the illegal collection of personal information by internet users through their machine learning models.

Italy also blocked the use of ChatGPT in March due to privacy concerns about OpenAI’s handling and saving of users’ data.

After the company implemented changes to improve transparency in the processing of user data by the chatbot and to add an opt-out option for the conversations used to train algorithms, the ban was lifted.

There are more legal issues to consider with the launch GPTBot by OpenAI.

To avoid legal issues or infringement claims from agencies, they must make sure that any AI models have been trained using authorized data sources. They also need to respect copyright restrictions.

• Verify that the data was obtained legally, and that the agency has the right to use it.
• Filter data that does not have the legal permissions required or that is of low quality.
• Audit data and AI models regularly to ensure compliance with data usage laws and rights.
• Consult a lawyer to discuss data privacy and rights.

Before AI models can be incorporated into workstreams or projects, both agency and client legal departments will need to be involved.

Privacy and security of data

AI technologies are heavily dependent on data, including sensitive personal information.

The collection, storage, and processing of user data should be in accordance with privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) within the European Union.

The recently passed EU AI Act also focuses on addressing privacy concerns related to AI systems.

It is not without merit. Due to the disclosure of confidential data on ChatGPT, large corporations such as Samsung have completely banned AI.

If agencies are using AI in conjunction with customer data, then they must:

• Transparency should be a priority in the data collection.
• Obtain user consent.
• Use robust security measures to protect sensitive information.

In such cases, agencies should prioritize transparency when collecting data by communicating clearly to users what data will be collected, why it will be collected, and how it will used.

In order to obtain consent from users, you must ensure that they are informed and willingly give their consent by using clear consent forms that clearly explain the benefits and purpose of data collection.

Additional robust security measures include

• Data encryption.
• Access control.
• Anonymization of data (wherever possible)
• Updates and audits are conducted regularly.

As an example, OpenAI’s policies aligned with the need for privacy and protection of data and focused on promoting transparency and user consent in AI applications.

Fairness and bias

The AI algorithms that are used for SEO and media can unintentionally perpetuate bias, or discriminate certain individuals.

The agencies must be proactive when identifying and mitigating bias algorithmic. This is particularly important in light of the new EU AI Act which prohibits AI from displaying discriminatory behaviour or unfairly affecting humans’ behavior.

To minimize this risk, agencies must ensure that diverse data sources and perspectives are included when designing AI models. They should also continuously monitor the results to detect potential bias and discrimination.

You can achieve this by using tools like AI Fairness 360 or IBM Watson Studio.

False and misleading content

AI tools such as ChatGPT can create synthetic content which may be false, inaccurate or misleading.

Artificial intelligence, for example, often creates fake reviews online to promote specific places or products. Businesses that rely heavily on AI-generated material may suffer negative effects.

To prevent this, it is important to implement clear policies and procedures regarding the review of AI-generated content prior to publication.

Labeling AI-generated material is another practice worth considering. Many policymakers are in favor of AI labeling, even though Google does not enforce it.

Liability and Accountability

Questions of liability arise as AI systems become increasingly complex.

AI-using agencies must be ready to accept responsibility for unintended effects, such as:

• When using AI for sorting candidates, there is bias and discrimination.
• Cyberattacks and other malicious uses of AI are possible.
• Loss of privacy when information is collected without consent.

The EU AI Act contains new provisions regarding high-risk AI systems, which can have a significant impact on users’ rights. This highlights the importance of agencies and clients adhering to relevant policies and terms when using AI technology.

OpenAI’s terms and policies are based on the information provided by users, the accuracy and privacy of their responses and the handling of personal data.

In the content policy, OpenAI states that it assigns rights to generated content. The policy specifies that the generated content may be used in any way, even for commercial purposes, as long as it adheres to legal restrictions.

It also says that the output of AI-generated content may not be completely accurate or unique, so it is important to review thoroughly before using.

OpenAI will collect all personal information, including files uploaded by users.

Users must fill out an application to request processing of personal data and provide legal privacy notices.

To minimize potential legal liability, agencies must address issues of accountability, monitor AI outputs and implement robust measures for quality control.

AI challenges for agencies

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2017, there have been numerous discussions on , how generative AI is going to change SEO as a career, and its impact on the media industries.

While AI can be a great tool for agencies, it also comes with some challenges.

Education and awareness

Some clients may not have a complete understanding of AI.

The challenge for agencies is to educate clients on the benefits and risks of AI implementation.

To ensure compliance with the law, it is important to communicate clearly with clients about the steps taken.

To achieve this, agencies need to:

• Understand the goals of their clients.
• Explain the benefits.
• Demonstrate expertise in AI implementation.
• Take on the risks and challenges.

You can do this by creating a factsheet that you share with your clients. It should contain all the information they need. If possible, include case studies or examples on how artificial intelligence could benefit them.

Resource Allocation

In order to integrate AI into SEO strategies and media campaigns, significant resources are required, including skilled personnel, infrastructure upgrades, and financial investments.

The agencies must assess the needs of their clients and their capabilities in order to determine if AI solutions can be implemented within their budgetary constraints. They may need AI specialists, data analysts and SEO specialists who are able to work together.

Infrastructure requirements may include AI, data processing and analytic platforms for extracting insights. The ability and budget of each agency will determine whether they provide external resources or not.

While outsourcing to other agencies may lead to a quicker implementation, investing in AI capabilities in-house could be better for long-term customization and control of the services offered.

Expertise in the field

AI implementation requires specialized knowledge and expertise.

The new regulations may require agencies to hire or upgrade their staff to develop, deploy and manage AI systems.

Team members who want to make the most out of AI should:

• You should have a good understanding of programming.
• Analytical skills and data processing are required to manage large amounts of information.
• Machine learning is a practical knowledge.
• Problem-solving abilities are excellent.

Ethics

The ethical implications of AI for agencies and their clients must be considered.

To ensure AI practices are responsible, ethical frameworks and guidelines must be developed to address the concerns raised by the updated regulations.

Included are:

• AI transparency, disclosure and accountability
• Respecting the privacy of users and intellectual property.
• Consent of the client to artificial intelligence.
• AI under human control with a commitment to improving and adapting to new AI technologies.

Accountability is important: Legal challenges in AI implementation

Although AI offers exciting possibilities for improving SEO and media practice, agencies must navigate the legal challenges and adhere updated regulations associated with their implementation.

Businesses and agencies can reduce legal risk by:

• Assuring that the data was obtained legally, and the agency is entitled to use it.
• Filter out data with no legal permissions, or that is not of good quality.
• Auditing data and AI models for compliance with data usage laws and rights.
• Consult a lawyer about data privacy and rights to make sure that nothing is in conflict with the legal policies.
• Transparency in data collection is a priority, and consent from users should be obtained by using forms that are easy to understand.
• Use tools to reduce bias. These include IBM Watson Studio and Google’s What-If-Tool.
• Implementing clear policies for reviewing AI-generated content quality before publication.

The first post AI and SEO: How to navigate the legal challenges of SEO and ensure compliance was published on Search Engineland.