Liability regimes for creative machines. A European perspective.

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence liability has been the subject of a lively debate on the European regulators’ agenda for quite some time, part of a larger regulatory framework discussion related to the legal status of intelligent machines and AI regulation in general. As straightforward as the answer might seem to the question on whether AI systems should be granted legal status, and as such become holders of rights and duties, contradictory regulatory loopholes exist that make it possible for machines to be aligned on the same legal frontier as humans. Namely, the recent judicial precedent in the DABUS case, where an AI was granted inventorship, has shed light on the need to harmonise and unify AI regulatory provisions regarding the legals status of AI, while creating and maintaining an ecosystem that could balance the preservation of individual safety and fundamental rights without overly inhibiting innovation in AI. This article addresses the issue of machine liability in light of the current European regulatory framework on AI, while considering machine creativity as a medium for granting legal status to AI systems.