The commissioners stop short of making any specific proposals for reform in their discussion paper, ‘Artificial intelligence and the law’, published last week. However, they note that ‘many of the legal issues raised by AI arise, partly, because AI does not have legal personality’. They conclude by considering ‘a potentially radical option for AI law reform: granting some form of legal personality to AI systems’. The commissioners highlight that, while AI is not yet advanced enough to warrant this option, it may become so ‘in the near future’.
Their paper raises a host of other AI conundrums for discussion: for example, the difficulty of establishing causation and criminal liability, and the impact on public accountability when AI is involved in local authority decision-making.
Chair of the Law Commission, Sir Peter Fraser said: ‘With AI’s potential benefits comes potential harm.’
