Crimes without criminals : in search of criminal liability for harms caused by AI systems

dc.contributor.authorNERANTZI, Eleni
dc.contributor.authorSARTOR, Giovanni
dc.date.accessioned2025-07-04T15:11:48Z
dc.date.available2025-07-04T15:11:48Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.descriptionPublished online: 19 June 2025
dc.description.abstractAs Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems expand in autonomy, learning abilities, and capacity for intentional action, so does the risk of them engaging in harmful activities for which no human possesses the corresponding mens rea, i.e., actions that no human has planned or was even able to foresee (‘hard AI crime’). How should the legal system respond to this gap in criminal liability? In this chapter, we make a threefold contribution: First, we define this gap by offering a taxonomy of AI-generated harms into ‘easy’, ‘medium’ and ‘hard’ cases, arguing that only the last ones give rise to a ‘culpability gap’. Second, we classify and critically engage with the literature responses on the ‘who is to blame’ question for this harm. Finally, we introduce our own novel approach to the ‘hard AI crime’ problem, which shifts the discussion from blame to deterrence and seeks to design an ‘AI deterrence paradigm’ inspired by the Criminal Law and Economics.
dc.identifier.citationWoodrow BARFIELD and Ugo PAGALLO (eds), Research handbook on the law of artificial intelligence : current and future directions (2nd edition), Cheltenham ; Northampton : Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025, pp. 329-348
dc.identifier.doi10.4337/9781035316496.00024
dc.identifier.isbn9781035316489
dc.identifier.isbn9781035316496
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/92976
dc.language.isoen
dc.orcid.putcode1814/80363:187297254
dc.orcid.putcode1814/80928:187297257
dc.publisherEdward Elgar Publishing
dc.subjectCriminal law
dc.subjectCriminal law and economics
dc.subjectDeterrence
dc.subjectHard case
dc.subjectHarm
dc.titleCrimes without criminals : in search of criminal liability for harms caused by AI systems
dc.typeContribution to book
dspace.entity.typePublication
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-8990-8514
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-2210-0398
person.identifier.other46620
person.identifier.other29040
relation.isAuthorOfPublication397be5c7-380d-48b0-bbd3-dd79000fbecf
relation.isAuthorOfPublicatione0511c58-5007-4b10-8d82-e19ca2df8cc2
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery397be5c7-380d-48b0-bbd3-dd79000fbecf
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