To what extent can directors be held liable for the use of AI on the board?
Although it has been clear for quite some time that robotics and AI are paving a path to major societal revolutions, the fact that these human-made systems might one day become our equal in terms of business was perhaps not anticipated. While it is impossible to predict the future with complete accuracy and it, therefore, remains questionable whether we will one day encounter a boardroom filled with only ‘robo-directors’, a survey conducted by the World Economic Forum has predicted that the first ‘robo-director’ may be serving as a full and autonomous board-member as soon as 2025.
Currently, directors increasingly make use of AI-tools to assist in their decision-making tasks. The fact that these AI tools are used during board meetings and when casting a vote on the business direction is rather shocking and has caused quite some upheaval within a range of fields, including the field of corporate law. The implications that their emergence has for the legal framework regulating corporations and corporate conduct have not been experienced before and have raised uncertainties with regard to the extent to which this development falls within the scope of and complies with contemporary corporate law, especially when considering possible attribution of liability when something goes wrong.
In this episode of The Law of Tech Podcast, I explored the interaction between Artificial Intelligence, directors and liability in the Australian and UK context with Samar Ashour, Solicitor admitted at the Supreme Court of NSW, Australia.
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