Reconceptualizing Partyhood In Contracts In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence: Can AI Be A ‘Party’ To A Contract?
- IJLLR Journal
- 10 hours ago
- 2 min read
Navya Mehtani, B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), Faculty of Law, Delhi University, India
ABSTRACT:
In this era of modern technology, increasingly, AI systems are starting to independently generate contractual terms, acting as drafting assistants, being used to perform high-speed risk analysis and be used for compliance checks or simple renewals with minimal human intervention.
While existing legal scholarships largely maintain that AI cannot be recognized as a contracting party due to its lack of legal personality, such conclusions tend to rely on traditional assumptions of contractual intent and capacity, that predate the logical decision- making. According to Saad Misbah and Inaya Imtiyaz, “determining liability whether it should fall on the AI developer or the AI itself, is complex due to a lack of clear legal guidelines, and it’s also complex if the contract operates across borders, identifying the appropriate legal jurisdiction”.
This paper examines whether the conventional contract doctrine is fit and adequately equipped to deal with the contracts that are formed and performed through AI systems. It critically analyses the capability of AI to act as a party to a contract, by analysing the relation between intent, legal personality, and contractual capacity. The paper questions whether these elements must necessarily coexist in all contracting entities, and whether duties can be imposed on AI without it having the rights of a contracting party.
Drawing upon the principles of contract law, agency, and technological realities, the paper explores whether alternative doctrinal models, like limited recognition of AI within contractual framework can address contemporary needs and realities in a better manner. It concludes by highlighting the doctrinal gaps within the existing laws, and proposes a reconceptualization of contractual partyhood that answers the complexities, while preserving the morality and foundational principles of contractual accountability and laws.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Contract Law, Contractual Partyhood, Legal Personality, Contractual Capacity, Autonomous Systems, Agency Theory.
