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3 - Reasonable Robots

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2020

Ryan Abbott
Affiliation:
University of Surrey School of Law
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Summary

AI has the potential to be substantially safer than people. Self-driving cars will cause accidents, but they will cause fewer accidents than people. Because automation will result in substantial safety benefits, tort law should encourage its adoption as a means of accident prevention. Under current laws, suppliers of AI tortfeasors are strictly responsible for their harms. A better system would hold them liable for harms caused by AI tortfeasors in negligence. Not only would this encourage the use of AI after it exceeds human performance, but also the liability test would focus on activity rather than design, which would be simpler to administer. More importantly, just as AI activity should be discouraged when it is less safe than a person, human activity should be discouraged when it is less safe than an AI. Once AI is safer than a person and automation is practicable, human tortfeasors should be held to the standard of AI behavior.

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The Reasonable Robot
Artificial Intelligence and the Law
, pp. 50 - 70
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Reasonable Robots
  • Ryan Abbott
  • Book: The Reasonable Robot
  • Online publication: 15 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108631761.004
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  • Reasonable Robots
  • Ryan Abbott
  • Book: The Reasonable Robot
  • Online publication: 15 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108631761.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Reasonable Robots
  • Ryan Abbott
  • Book: The Reasonable Robot
  • Online publication: 15 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108631761.004
Available formats
×