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International Workshop on AI Approaches to the Complexity of Legal Systems

AICOL 2011: AI Approaches to the Complexity of Legal Systems. Models and Ethical Challenges for Legal Systems, Legal Language and Legal Ontologies, Argumentation and Software Agents pp 48–60Cite as

Three Roads to Complexity, AI and the Law of Robots: On Crimes, Contracts, and Torts

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 7639))

Abstract

The paper examines the impact of robotics technology on contemporary legal systems and, more particularly, some of the legal challenges brought on by the information revolution in the fields of criminal law, contracts, and tort law. Whereas, in international humanitarian law, scholars and lawmakers debate on whether autonomous lethal weapons should be banned, robots are reshaping notions of agency and human responsibility in civil (as opposed to criminal) law. Although time is not ripe for the “legal personification” of robots, we should admit new forms of both contractual and tort liability for the behaviour of these “intelligent machines.” After all, this is the first time ever legal systems will hold people responsible for what an artificial state-transition system “decides” to do.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Law School, University of Torino, via s. Ottavio 54, 10124, Torino, Italy

    Ugo Pagallo

Authors
  1. Ugo Pagallo
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bologna, Italy

    Monica Palmirani

  2. Torino Law School, University of Torino, via s. Ottavio 20, 10124, Torino, Italy

    Ugo Pagallo

  3. Institute of Law and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Pompeu Casanovas

  4. European University Institute and CIRSFID, via Zamboni 33, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    Giovanni Sartor

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Pagallo, U. (2012). Three Roads to Complexity, AI and the Law of Robots: On Crimes, Contracts, and Torts. In: Palmirani, M., Pagallo, U., Casanovas, P., Sartor, G. (eds) AI Approaches to the Complexity of Legal Systems. Models and Ethical Challenges for Legal Systems, Legal Language and Legal Ontologies, Argumentation and Software Agents. AICOL 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7639. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35731-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35731-2_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35730-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35731-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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