Of, for, and by the people: the legal lacuna of synthetic persons

"creating a specific legal status for robots in the long run, so that at least the most sophisticated autonomous robots could be established as having the status of electronic persons responsible for making good any damage they may cause, and possibly applying electronic personality to cases where robots make autonomous decisions or otherwise interact with third parties independently." In this article, we ask whether a purely synthetic entity could and should be made a legal person. Drawing on the legal and philosophical framework used to evaluate the legal personhood of other non-human entities like corporations, we argue that the case for electronic personhood is weak. Though this article begins with philosophical premises, its orientation is ultimately pragmatic. A legal system by the people exists ultimately to protect the interests of the people.