LIVING IN THE FUTURE: NEW ACTORS IN THE FIELD OF CRIMINAL LAW - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial Intelligence is omnipresent in all sectors of social life, affecting, influencing, determining or facilitating our lives and decisions. Recently, a robot was 'killed" by a self-driving car. The incident reported is mentioned only for the purpose of emphasizing the need of legal regulation in this growing field. Several other incidents - autonomous vehicle crashes with human casualties - have also raised questions on the issue of criminal liability, precisely on the issue of recognizing a new actor in the field of criminal law: Artificial Intelligence. Several initiatives at the European level and other scientific legal debates have joined in recognition of the need to acknowledge this new subject of law, or, at least to create legal tools in order to sanction Artificial Intelligence for harmful acts. The current study aims to urge a debate on issues like electronic personality, legal and criminal liability of Artificial Intelligence, on present and future obstades in creating an efficient legislative frame in a field in need to be properly regulated. Old debates, such as the peril of over-criminalization or ratio of the criminalization are also reintroduced from an entirely new perspective. The conclusions of the study point out to the necessity of outlining a set of principles and rules with specific application to Artificial Intelligence, of prompt recognition of a legal and criminal liability of Artificial Intelligence, of setting moral and legal boundaries for the human intervention and of changing the whole paradigm of legal liability by accepting this new actor: Artificial Intelligence.