How Common Law Can Regulate AI and Protect Users from Harm

The Role of Common Law in AI Regulation

• 💡 Common law, rooted in American legal tradition, offers a flexible and vital mechanism for adapting to technological advancements like artificial intelligence.
• 📌 It allows judges to apply existing principles of tort, contract, and property law to new circumstances, ensuring the law evolves alongside innovation.

Protecting Americans Without Explicit Statutes

• ✅ Common law principles can provide new protections for Americans even in the absence of specific federal statutes.
• ⚖️ This flexibility is crucial for addressing harms arising from new technologies, as demonstrated by the historical development of privacy law.

Holding AI Companies Accountable

• 💔 Tragic cases, such as lawsuits against Character Technologies and Google, highlight the potential for AI chatbots to cause severe harm, including to children.
• ⚖️ These lawsuits utilize common law claims like wrongful death and negligence to hold companies accountable for the harms their AI products have caused.
• 🚀 The development of negligence as a common law innovation in response to industrialization shows how legal principles can safeguard technological progress while protecting individuals.

State Leadership in AI Governance

• 🌐 States have historically filled regulatory gaps where Congress has not acted, such as with the internet and general privacy laws.
• 🎯 It is appropriate for states to lead on AI technologies, particularly in areas of AI deployment rather than AI generation, including consumer protection and employment discrimination.
• 🏛️ If federal legislation is not forthcoming, states will likely continue to establish AI regulations to protect their citizens.