The Interplay of Law, Robots and Society,in an Artificial Intelligence Era

Abstract

The rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics will have a profound impacton the society and its laws. Robots, humanoid / anthropomorphic or not, e.g., selfdrivingcars, will have physical presence, take autonomous decisions and interact with allstakeholders in the society. While already some AI robots are available, e.g., self-driving cars,their intelligence is expected to skyrocket in the next decades, and many prominent scientistspredict that they will reach (and potentially surpass) human intelligence. The symbiosiswith robots, may lead to a civilizational change with far reaching effects. In a future society,where robots and humans are in a symbiotic relationship, philosophical, legal and societalquestions on consciousness, citizenship, rights and legal entity of robots are raised such as:Should robots be recognized as a legal entity? How should criminal and civil law deal withtheir decisions? What are the societal implications? etc. This work, starts from the theoreticalviewpoints pertaining law and society, is inspired by intersectional approaches, andutilizes existing literature in order to analyze the interplay of law, robots and society via differentangles such as law, social, economic, gender and ethical perspectives. In addition,a discussion, especially pertaining core elements of law and society provides new insightsand challenges that may emerge. The analysis and discussions presented here make it evidentthat although robots are inexorably integrated, the law systems as well as society arenot prepared for their prevalence. What is clear is that robots and AI will create a new erafor humanity. What that era might be, is still under discussion and not well understood. AsStephenHawking put it “The rise of powerful AI will be either the best or the worst thing everto happen to humanity. We do not yet know which”. Overall one has to consider that law ismeant to be proactive in nature and ideally be in place to prevent problems before they happen,and therefore it is now the time to start a detailed discussion, involving all stakeholders,and derive the necessary policies and frameworks, for the key issues that pertain law, robotsand society. This work makes a contribution towards the multi-faceted aspects that such adiscussion pertains.