Generative AI services like ChatGPT and Gemini are some of the fastest-growing consumer services. Individuals using such services must accept their terms of use before access, and conform to these terms for continued use of the service. Established literature has shown that despite their status as legally-binding agreements, terms of use are not actually well-understood, and may contain implications that are surprising for consumers. In this paper, we analyse the terms of 6 generative AI services from the perspective of an EU-based consumer. Our findings, based on a developed codebook which we provide in the paper, reiterate known issues regarding generative AI services such as the default use of user data for training and surface new concerns regarding responsibility, liability, and rights. All terms in our analysis contained language that explicitly discards assurances regarding the quality, availability and appropriateness of the service, regardless of whether the service is free or paid. The terms also make users solely responsible for outputs meeting norms dictated by the provider, despite no information or control being provided over the functioning of the model, and at the risk of account termination. The terms further restrict users in how outputs can be used while service providers utilise both user-provided inputs as well as user-liable outputs for a wide variety of purposes at their discretion. The implications of these practices are severe, as we find consumers suffer from lack of necessary information, significant imbalance of power, and have responsibilities they cannot materially fulfil without violating the terms. To remedy this situation, we make concrete recommendations for authorities and policymakers to urgently upgrade existing consumer protection mechanisms to tackle this growing issue.

翻译：像ChatGPT和Gemini这样的生成式人工智能服务，是增长最快的消费类服务之一。用户在使用此类服务前必须接受其使用条款，并遵守这些条款以持续使用服务。已有文献表明，尽管使用条款是具有法律约束力的协议，但消费者实际上并不能很好地理解它们，并且可能包含令消费者意外的条款。在本文中，我们从欧盟消费者的角度，分析了六项生成式人工智能服务的使用条款。我们的发现基于我们在本文中提供的一个已制定的编码手册，重申了关于生成式人工智能服务的已知问题，例如默认使用用户数据进行训练，并揭示了关于责任、义务和权利的新担忧。我们分析的所有条款都包含明确放弃关于服务质量、可用性和适当性保证的措辞，无论服务是免费还是付费。这些条款还规定，用户需对输出内容符合服务提供商规定的规范负全部责任，尽管用户对模型的运行方式一无所知或无法控制，并面临账户被终止的风险。条款进一步限制了用户对输出内容的使用方式，而服务提供商则可自行决定将用户提供的输入以及用户负责的输出内容用于各种目的。这些做法的后果严重，我们发现消费者缺乏必要信息，存在严重的权力失衡，并承担着他们若遵守条款就无法实质性履行的责任。为改善此状况，我们向监管机构和政策制定者提出了具体建议，敦促他们紧急升级现有的消费者保护机制，以应对这一日益严重的问题。