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Accidents and criminal responsibility by AI-equipped devices - Through the case of self-driving car accidents in Japan -

  • Legal Theory & Practice Review
  • Abbr : LTPR
  • 2023, 11(4), pp.395-421
  • Publisher : The Korea Society for Legal Theory and Practice Inc.
  • Research Area : Social Science > Law
  • Received : October 31, 2023
  • Accepted : November 29, 2023
  • Published : November 30, 2023

Hong, Tae-Seok 1

1원광대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

In the digital age, artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating changes in our society. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is leading the revolution, not only the convenience of life but also being a perfect friend for single-person households. However, if the legal interests of our human beings are violated by such AI-equipped devices, the question arises what will happen to the criminal responsibility. It is a well-known fact that it can cause harm to our lives or bodies, such as suicide while talking to ChatGPT or an accident due to an operation error in an autonomous vehicle. When AI products are distributed in the market, various actors such as manufacturers, individual sellers, and users may be involved as in other products. The first question that can be raised here is whether the manufacturer can be held liable under the criminal law if a defect occurs in the AI system distributed by the manufacturer to the market, and in particular, who and what kind of responsibility can be held in the event of an infringement on human life or body. It is also questioned whether AI can hold manufacturers and AI accountable if it learns by itself and violates human legal interests. In the above case, negligence offenders can be discussed, but negligence offenders are explained as violations of the duty of care, so the setting and standards of the duty of care are important criteria for the punishment of negligence offenders, and it is questionable whether the existing negligence criminal law can be applied in the event of an accident by an AI-equipped device. Starting with these questions, this paper reviewed criminal responsibility in the event of an accident caused by an AI-equipped device by referring to Japanese precedents that were recently discussed in relation to criminal responsibility due to an accident caused by an autonomous vehicle.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.