Experts discuss legal liability of AI actions

There are many legal concepts linked to AI for which the judges and other interested parties in the field may not be well paying attention to.” Dr Jamal Al Sumaiti director-general, Dubai Judicial Institute

DUBAI — For Justice Dr Jamal Al Sumaiti, director-general of the Dubai Judicial Institute (DJI), uncertainty and unsolved questions still surround the work of artificial intelligence (AI) even on the global scale.

“Even if an ideal and perfect AI could be invented, would it be an entity with legal liability? Would we be able to treat it like if it were a persona with legal responsibility and bring it to legal accountability when its work goes wrong?” Dr Al Sumaiti raised these questions in an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the ‘Shaping the future of Judicial Knowledge’ workshop. The first edition of the workshop was organised by the DJI in cooperation with the United Nations Crime and Justice Research Institute under the theme ‘Artificial Intelligence Today and Beyond’.

“It is a very broad subject and it is still a matter of study worldwide,” Justice Al Sumaiti said, raising some questions: “Can the robot be seen as a legal entity like we look at corporations and business enterprises — those entities that have

names, addresses, rights, and obligations? Can we reach a day when it can replace the judicial employee in his/her work? The legalists will be the ones to answer to that.

Justice Al Sumaiti noted that the journey might take quite long to

reach the day when a robot could replace a judge, a prosecutor or even an investigator but said “we have already begun exploring the possibilities and risks involved”.

The two-day workshop was inaugurated by Dr Al Sumaiti in presence of Taresh Eid Al Mansouri, director of the Dubai Courts and vice-chairman of the DJI.

It saw the participation from elite speakers, legal personnel and experts in the field of AI.