Publication Type

Book Chapter

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

1-2025

Abstract

This chapter examines the difficult legal characterisation problems that artificially intelligent systems raise and explores how different characterisations of artificial intelligence (AI) shape practical legal outcomes. Three reasons are offered for the legal difficulty with characterising AI. First, answers to characterisation problems are inherently subjective and perspective-driven, particularly when the subject is an intangible technological system. Second, AI technology is especially difficult to define since the field typically proceeds on inexact anthropomorphic metaphors. Third, AI characterisation problems raise difficult sub-problems, particularly in determining how autonomous an AI system is. The chapter thus argues that a range of plausible AI characterisations will inevitably exist for lawyers to choose from, as demonstrated by the plethora of things, entities, and persons scholars have likened them to. In turn, these choices shape how we think about regulating and assigning responsibility for AI systems. Here the point is substantiated with case studies of emerging AI regulations and recent litigation involving AI systems in commercial, defamation, and intellectual property contexts. The chapter concludes by reiterating the inherent malleability of AI characterisations and calling on regulators and adjudicators to be more deliberate in choosing characterisations aligned with their intended legal outcomes.

Keywords

AI Act, Artificial intelligence, Commercial defamation, Intellectual property, Legal analogy

Discipline

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Intellectual Property Law

Research Areas

Public Interest Law, Community and Social Justice

Publication

Research Handbook on the Law of Artificial Intelligence: Current and Future Directions

First Page

213

Last Page

231

ISBN

9781035316489

Identifier

10.4337/9781035316496.00018

Publisher

Edward Elgar

City or Country

Chelterham

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

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