The Legislative Vacuum in Regulating Legal Liability for Artificial Intelligence Applications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65263/a3pscq95Keywords:
Legislative gap, AI crimes, Civil and criminal liability for artificial intelligence.Abstract
The law faces a recurring problem of legislative gaps arising from new developments. This raises questions about the judge's ability to fill these gaps and issue rulings on the cases presented. Artificial intelligence (AI) and its diverse, independent applications used in various aspects of daily life pose a new challenge to existing legal rules that regulate relationships between individuals in society. Since the increased use of AI applications means an increase in the resulting harm and a rise in criminal activity, it is essential to explore mechanisms for addressing the legislative gap in regulating civil and criminal liability for the criminal acts or civil damages caused by AI applications and entities.
This research aims to clarify the mechanisms for filling the legislative gap in regulating civil and criminal liability for AI applications and to determine the actual need for new legislation to regulate these aspects, or whether the general rules available in existing laws are sufficient. It has become clear that actions committed by artificial intelligence applications that violate the rules of civil and criminal law, and in light of the principles governing these two legal systems—principles that determine the degree of illegality of an act, particularly the principle of legality upon which criminal law is based ("no crime, no punishment except by law")—reveal a legislative gap in the legal framework. This gap necessitates concerted efforts to address and rectify the shortcomings in these rules regarding artificial intelligence applications. On the civil side, guidance can be sought from Article (1) of the Iraqi Civil Code No. 40 of 1951, whereby the judge, based on the principles of justice, strives to fill this legislative gap in order to adjudicate the case before him.
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