We, the Robots?

Abstract

The rule of law is the epitome of anthropocentrism: humans are the primary subject and object of norms that are created, interpreted, and enforced by humans – made manifest in government of the people, by the people, for the people. Though legal constructs such as corporations may have rights and obligations, these in turn are traceable back to human agency in their acts of creation, their daily conduct overseen to varying degrees by human agents. Even international law, which governs relations among states, begins its foundational text with the words ‘We the peoples…’. The emergence of fast, autonomous, and opaque AI systems forces us to question this assumption of our own centrality, though it is not yet time to relinquish it.