Comment by Ana Beduschi

Proponents of AI legal personality often draw parallels between AI entities and corporations, to which the law grants legal status in order to facilitate economic activities and limit liability. However, as Chesterman points out, both entities are fundamentally different as ‘a corporation is made up of human beings, through whom it operates, whereas an AI system is made by humans.’ These differences suggest that changes to the legal frameworks might be challenging to implement and would require additional evidence that AI transcends the stage of mere tools. Furthermore, giving agentic AI systems legal personality may obscure accountability, potentially allowing developers and deployers to avoid responsibility for agentic AI-related actions. In this regard, discussions surrounding AI legal personhood may be distracting.