Ascertaining the Legal Personality of Artificial Intelligence

With every passing year we are witnessing improved and much sophisticated versions of Artificial Intelligence being used in various sectors of our lives. This increased permeation of AI into our lives raises a question of its legal personality. Traditionally legal personality as a concept is applicable on only those entities that have been recognised by law to have some rights and in turn duties (e.g. human beings, corporations). This traditional concept gets challenged with the introduction of AI that exhibits certain human-like characteristics such as the ability to make decisions independently, rationality, free will, self-awareness etc. This paper analyses the concept of personhood, the jurisprudence behind it, its implications with respect to AI, as well as the pros and cons of awarding a legal personality to AI. A through philosophical and ethical examination of AI has been discussed while analysing the current scenario keeping in mind the International Law with respect to personhood. This helps in ascertaining the drawbacks, hurdles, and harms that legal personality of AI can cause in respect of allocation of responsibility in cases of breach of law or violation of the rights of human beings by the said AI tool. Through a detailed analysis both the pros and cons of awarding legal personality to AI have been discussed. The paper concludes with a proposal for regulation of AI’s role in our lives, its safe regulation, managing its proficiencies more safely, ethically and ensuring the protection of the rights of all human beings.