Introduction

We were approached by a two-individual team who had developed an AI powered interactive customer assistant – an AI chatbot. 

The client’s requirements were relatively straightforward; the team needed a contract that its customers could sign up to when obtaining a licence to use the client’s product. As the software was going to be delivered and operated remotely, it was a SaaS product. SaaS products that deliver, primarily, AI functionality, are also known as ‘AIaaS’ or AI-as-a-Service.

Challenge

The risks that apply to AI chatbots are not massively different to how other AI tools are approached from a contract law perspective.

Primarily, the key is getting the intellectual property position correct. The client’s AI tool was going to be integrated with (a) the customer’s website, so end-users can talk to the chatbot and (b) the customer’s stock data, so the AI chatbot can pull from a live dataset to provide end-users with up-to-date information, typically around stock levels and availability, offers and general questions about finance options (e.g. buy now, pay later or 0% interest offers).

The AIaaS contract need to grant the client sufficient rights to the relevant data to ensure that the product can operate effectively, without putting the client in potential breach where, for example, it goes on to share confidential customer data with third party providers. 

The other key concern is appropriate disclaimers around how the AI chatbot operates. Ultimately, AI tools are inherently predictive in nature – so they may not be fully accurate. If the AI chatbot gives the wrong information to the customer as a result of the inherent limitations of AI technology, the client wanted to be protected appropriately. 

Solution

We discussed all these different concerns with the client to ensure that it landed on a position that was both protective and commercially sensible. 

Once the client was happy with the approach, it was simple to draft the relevant clauses and provide an AIaaS agreement that the client could use going forward. 

The client’s tool is taking off, being used by a number of household name brands. 

If you need help with launching a new business or AI more generally – please don’t hesitate to contact us.