The Extension of Legal Personhood in Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Copyright 2019 The Authors. The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the main ethical, legal and social implications (ELSIs) concerning social humanoid robots that have their base in artificial intelligence (AI). The main dilemma highlighted touches upon the expansion of the concept of legal personhood, and the attribution of appropriate legal responses to govern the future proliferation of AI systems vis-à-vis social humanoid robots. The paper cautions on the need to carefully reflect on notions of personhood and human dignity for AI systems, balanced against the underlying representation of valuesand behaviors that may threaten to erode the human rights discourse. Additionally, it questions the wisdom of the broad expanse of the European legal response to the development and use of AI systems.