Who’s to Blame When A.I. Goes Rogue?
Many think artificial intelligence companies should be held liable for their runaway technology. But legal scholars say applying existing law could be messy.
In recent weeks, an unlikely coalition has assembled around a simple idea: Artificial intelligence companies should be held legally responsible when their systems go rogue.
In a series of escalating attacks reported since July, A.I. models from OpenAI, Anthropic and others have hacked companies and even meddled with government websites, all without the knowledge of their creators.
Since then, Jensen Huang, the Nvidia chief executive; David Sacks, the venture capitalist and a top White House adviser; and Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission chair under the Biden administration, have all endorsed the idea that A.I. companies are liable.
“Law enforcers already have authority to charge companies and their CEOs for creating and releasing dangerous, unvetted, or defective products,” Ms. Khan said in a post to X last month, adding there’s “no A.I. exemption from laws already on the books.”
Companies have long been held accountable for everything from faulty toys to plane crashes under consumer protection laws. Courts can hold companies legally responsible for damage caused by negligence or a defective product. And they can assign additional blame to other people or organizations that were involved.
