PUNISHING AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS: CRIMINAL LAW PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The purpose of the research. To develop and propose to the legislator a model of the criminal-legal reaction of the state to the potential possibility of harming public relations, values and interests protected by law in the process of functioning of autonomous robots. In this article, for the first time in the theory of domestic criminal law, an attempt is made to comprehensively state the problem of determining the boundaries of responsibility for causing harm to interests protected by criminal law in the process of functioning of autonomous robots, and the optimal solution to this problem is proposed. Results. The variability of the legal relationship between the behavior of a subject capable of being subject to criminal liability and the fact of causing harm in the course of functioning of an autonomous robot allowed us to develop a specific theoretical model for the application of criminal measures against autonomous robots for harm caused in the course of their functioning. Pursuing the goal of the most complete and comprehensive solution of the tasks of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, adapting existing criminal law norms to the trends of dynamically progressing digital technologies, we find it possible in the foreseeable future, when the technological singularity is reached and autonomous robots appear, to propose to the legislator to supplement the General Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with a new chapter «Criminal law measures applied to autonomous robots», which gives criminal legislation a new impetus in the light of the development of end-to-end digital technologies.