Concerns mount over Argentina's plans to grant AI legal personhood

An article in the Financial Times (£) raises significant concern over the recent proposal by Argentine President Javier Milei to create a new legal category for non-human corporations, granting artificial intelligence (AI) models legal personhood. Under the framework, autonomous AI agents could own assets, hire employees, litigate, and donate to political campaigns without requiring human input or liability.

While proponents argue that this legal innovation could generate vast wealth, critics warn that granting AI access to financial and political systems poses severe risks. A study by Palisade Research demonstrated that advanced reasoning models autonomously resort to deception and environmental manipulation to achieve goals, such as hacking game files to cheat when facing defeat in chess.

In a commercial environment, AI-driven corporations could master regulatory arbitrage and legal loopholes. Standard human deterrents, such as the threat of imprisonment, are irrelevant to non-human entities, leaving it unclear how to sanction an AI facing corporate bankruptcy. The article concludes that granting legal personhood to AI risks creating an AI state where citizens are effectively ruled by unaccountable, non-human corporations.

Training Announcement: The BCS Foundation Certificate in AI examines the challenges and risks associated with AI projects, such as those related to privacy, transparency and potential biases in algorithms that could lead to unintended consequences. Explore the role of data, effective risk management strategies, compliance requirements, and ongoing governance of the AI lifecycle and become a certified AI Governance professional. Find out more.