AUTHOR=Mocanu Diana Mădălina 

TITLE=Gradient Legal Personhood for AI Systems—Painting Continental Legal Shapes Made to Fit Analytical Molds

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.788179

DOI=10.3389/frobt.2021.788179

ISSN=2296-9144

ABSTRACT=What I propose in the present article are some theoretical adjustments for a more coherent answer to the legal ‘status question’ of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. I arrive at those by using the new ‘bundle theory’ of legal personhood, together with its accompanying conceptual and methodological apparatus, as a lens through which to look at a recent such answer inspired from German civil law and named Teilrechtsfähigkeit or partial legal capacity. I argue that partial legal capacity is a possible solution to the ‘status question’ only if we understand legal personhood according to this new theory. Conversely, I argue that if indeed Teilrechtsfähigkeit lends itself to being applied to AI systems, then such flexibility further confirms ‘the bundle theory’ paradigm shift. I then go on to further analyze and exploit the particularities of Teilrechtsfähigkeit to inform a reflection on the appropriate conceptual shape of legal personhood and suggest a slightly different answer from the ‘bundle theory’ framework in what I term a ‘gradient theory’ of legal personhood.