On the Carrot and the Stick That Unfair Competition Law Can Offer to AI-Based Work-Like Output

Abstract Output based on artificial intelligence (AI) has been the subject of animated debate in recent years. This article focuses on one facet of these discussions, namely the search for a legal framework for AI-based work-like output. Amid ongoing debates over whether copyright law or alternative (IP) regimes should reward or incentivise AI-based work-like output, it approaches the issue of a legal framework from the perspective of addressing the risks and challenges associated with such outcomes. Rather than advocating changes to current frameworks or the introduction of new ones, the article explores the prospects offered by existing law. In this vein, it turns its attention to the seemingly overlooked or underexplored possibility of leveraging the potential of unfair competition law, regarded here as encompassing both business-to-business and business-to-consumer commercial relations. The article traces the reasoning behind considering unfair competition law for AI-based work-like outcomes and provides a brief overview of its general characteristics, alongside the perspectives and challenges of applying it to such outcomes. It then moves on to examine protection against slavish imitation as a ‘carrot’ and provisions on misleading practices as a ‘stick’ for AI-based work-like output. The article concludes that, with caution and careful assessment of compliance with the requirements, these unfair competition law frameworks can be applied to such output. However, it also acknowledges that some cases will fall outside the scope of these frameworks. This suggests that addressing the challenges posed by AI-based work-like output may require the support of other solutions.