Artificial Intelligence and contractual liability under Polish law. Selected issues

Abstract

Background: Growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the public sphere, and its ensuing ‘robot-human’ and ‘robot-environment’ interactions, can certainly affect the rules of contractual liability.
 Research purpose: The article analyses how AI and its commercialization can impact on Polish legal regulations governing contractual relations and the contractual liability. The purpose of this article is to present the issue of the AI impact on the conclusion and performance of contracts in Polish civil law, with particular emphasis on contractual liability arising in this context, as well as potential problems associated with it, not only for parties to a contract, but also for lawyers who have to face a puzzle of finding legal solutions to technological progress making real mechanisms that until recently have been treated in science-fiction categories.
 Methods: The analysis is based on the dogmatic and legal method.
 Conclusions: It is necessary to distinguish between situations where artificial intelligence is a subject of the contract, and cases where artificial intelligence is a party to the contract. In the former case, it seems that the current general provisions on contractual liability, as well as the provisions governing individual contracts, can be used to a considerable extent. However, contractual liability seems to be much more problematic when a robot is a party to the contract. This issue is inseparable from the developing of intelligent robots (artificial intelligence) and possibly the granting of legal personality to them