Evolving Legal Liability Norms: A Discussion On The Intersection Of Corporate Criminal Liability(CCL) And Legal Liability Of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- IJLLR Journal
- Jul 10
- 2 min read
Madhvi Wadhawan, B.A. LL.B., Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Patiala
ABSTRACT
We live in a world where both artificial intelligence (AI) and corporates play an increasingly integral role. Corporates are the vehicles of commerce driving daily business activities, and since they are given personhood by a legal fiction, their liability is not straightforward but governed by legal principles of attribution, that allow us to gauge when acts of employees can be affixed as the acts of the corporate itself.
Similarly, AI tools or systems are basically algorithmically controlled technology that perform a range of functions from data analysis, to text or image generation etc. But AI, unlike a human being is devoid of human emotions, and while this allows AI tools to function with greater efficiency, this same feature of functioning on pre-programmed instructions can also spell disaster in terms of AI not being able to handle dynamic situations or AI malfunction which causes accidents.
This article explores the dimensions of human and artificial intelligence, lays the legal groundwork of corporate criminal liability via Indian and foreign case laws, and also looks at legal liability models for AI’s accountability. This article further envisions the future possibility of collaborative AI and corporate liability through a concept of ladder of responsibility, based on the reality that AI interacts in an interconnected fashion with several actors, the actors being corporates, third party users, and AI programmers. Finally, this piece underlines following an equity-based victim-friendly approach towards compensation for injured party even when evidence has not been conclusively found.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Human Intelligence, CCL (Corporate Criminal Liability), principles of legal liability, empathy, algorithm, Ladder of Responsibility, Liability of multiple actors, interconnected activity of AI
