AI can act, but cannot bear responsibility
An AI agent may select a counterparty, negotiate terms, interact with a smart contract and authorise payment. Yet it is not generally recognised as a legal person, therefore its outputs need to be attributed to a human being or organisation. The UNCITRAL Model Law on Automated Contracting, adopted in 2024, supports contracts formed or performed through automated systems, including AI and machine-to-machine transactions. It establishes rules for attributing automated outputs and addressing unexpected outcomes without requiring the system to possess legal personality. And the emerging direction is clear: autonomous execution does not remove human or corporate accountability.
Rome’s architecture of delegated commerce
Source: London Digital Escrow
Roman law distinguished between people who were legally independent (“sui iuris”) and those subject to another’s authority (“alieni iuris”). The “paterfamilias” was the legally independent head of the house…
