The Implications of Modern Business–Entity Law for the Regulation of Autonomous Systems

Abstract

Nonhuman autonomous systems are not legal persons under current law. The history of organizational law, however, demonstrates that agreements can, with increasing degrees of autonomy, direct the actions of legal persons. Agreements are isomorphic with algorithms; that is, a legally enforceable agreement can give legal effect to the arbitrary discernible states of an algorithm or other process. As a result, autonomous systems may end up being able, at least, to emulate many of the private–law rights of legal persons. This essay demonstrates a technique by which this is possible by means of limited liability companies (LLCs), a very flexible modern type of business organization. The techniques that this essay describes are not just futuristic possibilities; as this essay argues, they are already possible under current law.

Artificial Intelligence in Corporate Governance

“…It is noteworthy that while most researchers consider it impossible to recognize AI as legal personality, Professor Bayern of the University of Florida shows, using the example of the US limited liability company (LLC), that the creation of a “non-human” subject is possible without fundamental legal reform to empower AI. He argues that US corporate law, because of its flexibility, allows the creation of legal entities without participants, the actions of which are determined solely by agreement or algorithm [ 2 ]. It is such autonomous legal entities that can become the legal shell with which AI can create a functional analogue of a new personality.…”

The theology of GPT‐2: Religion and artificial intelligence

“…Shawn Bayern has outlined how, even under current law, an A.I. could gain most rights associated with a person by becoming CEO of an LLC (Bayern, 2016). The issue has been made more pertinent by Saudi Arabia granting citizenship (and a credit card from UniCredit) to Hanson Robotics' AI Sophia (interestingly, Saudi Arabia requires a person be Muslim in order to be a citizen).…”

Wie wir leben wollen. Kompendium zu Technikfolgen von Digitalisierung, Vernetzung und Künstlicher Intelligenz

“…Damit wird die Klärung dieser Frage umso wichtiger (vgl. Bayern, 2015und Bayern et.al., 2017und Burri, 2018. Auch Kaplan konzipiert das Szenario einer KI (möglicherweise ein Roboter), die sich selbst kauft, in Entsprechung dazu, wie zum Ende der Sklaverei in den USA Sklaven sich selbst freigekauft haben (vgl.…”