Artificial Intelligence and Law

Ever since the publication of the novels of I. Asimov and the industrialization in the 1920’s, as well as folklore tales of Frankenstein and more recently the wide-spread usage of drones, self-driving cars and home-based robotics, the world has focused on the technological and practical aspects of robotics or applied artificial intelligence.


The ethical (and by extension legal) consequences of these new technological advances have yet to be determined, as is common with the development of new technology. This book is the result of a doctoral study as an attempt to create a global outline of (successful) attempts at legislation of civil and penal rights and duties for artificial intelligent subjects and objects. A comparison is made between several commonly used subjects (for example weak AI and strong AI objects) under different countries’ laws. The goal is to formulate some rudimentary rights and duties that AI objects should have or laws they should oblige, to ensure that an appropriate approach is always available under the law. Even though there are opponents of the concept of an electronic legal entity, the European Parliament expressed the need for Civil Law Rules on Robotics, hence clearly illustrating the societal need to govern these technological developments.