The Reflection of AI Entities in the Legal World: How Should Their Legal Status Be Determined

9 March 2018Murat Volkan DülgerCommentary

Introduction

This work was written in Turkish. The summary on this page is a translation; the citation gives the original title in parentheses.

In parallel with developments in technology, great and significant progress is also being made in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI entities. Indeed, AI algorithms are renewed and improved every day, experiments are carried out on the subject, and many of them succeed. The main reason for this work is the wish to use AI in many quite different fields, above all IT, the internet and electronics, because of the advantages I explain below. Moreover, even at present AI algorithms are seen to be used intensively in the conduct of economic activities. Developed countries are known to be investing large sums in this technology today, and this fact alone is in essence enough to show the importance of AI technology.

As AI has entered our lives to this extent, curiosity about the subject has grown in equal measure. One of the questions that arouses most curiosity is how AI will affect the field of law. This is because regulating by legal instruments the AI technology currently in use, and that which is planned to be attained in the future, is a necessary and compelling need. In this piece I will try to discuss the need for legislation to address the legal status and personality of AI technology, and in particular of AI robots and of entities that will have the capacity to reason; their civil or criminal liability where they are involved in an unlawful act or an offence; and whether there can be rules that apply among themselves.