EU Considers Legal Status For “Electronic Persons”

The European Parliament is considering whether to give robots the legal status of “electronic persons” as part of an effort to adopt comprehensive rules for how humans will interact with robots, androids, bots, and other artificially intelligent creations. “The most sophisticated autonomous robots could be established as having the status of electronic persons with specific rights and obligations, including that of making good any damage they may cause,” the report states. The report requests the creation of a European agency for robotics and artificial intelligence that can provide technical, ethical, and regulatory expertise. That agency could be used as an ethics committee body to advise and give the go-ahead to robot designers.