Granting robots legal status breaches human rights, say experts

EU plans to grant robots legal status could breach human rights law – this was the message from a group of 140 academics and experts in robotics and artificial intelligence, spanning 40 countries. This is in response to a proposal from the European Parliament last year, which had suggested that a special legal status of'electronic persons' could be granted to the more sophisticated, autonomous robots. In an open letter, the experts warned the European Commission that the plans were'nonsensical and non-pragmatic' and a potential breach of human rights. To be clear, the Commission is not suggesting that robots be given rights to vote or own property – rather, the proposal is an attempt to deal with the issue of accountability: if an autonomous robot, with the capacity to learn through interaction, crushes a person in a factory or runs somebody over in the street, who is liable? The EU believes giving such robots'personhood' may be the best solution.