Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has the potential to become one of the most
transformative developments in the history of technology. In particular, the recent
release of OpenAI’s GPT4 has catalyzed myriad discussions about its potential
impact on a wide range of productive and scholarly pursuits.
In addition, the advent of GenAI could also disrupt the basic structure of the tech
industry. For example, as media reports have recognized, “machine learning and AI
have remained at the heart” of the U.S. antitrust case against Google’s search
practices, raising the question whether the OpenAI’s innovations now offer a new
dimension along which search providers can compete.1 Regardless of which side of
the argument ultimately prevails when the trial court issues its decision, most likely
in the summer of 2024, this dispute provides an apt illustration of the impact that
GenAI can have on the ways that tech industry companies compete with one another.
This article briefly examines the arguments raised in the Google case to explore how
GenAI could reconfigure the fundamental nature of competition among technology
firms. It also then discusses three areas of law-copyright, privacy, and security-that
could place limits on the ability of GenAI to perform this transformative role.