Skip to main content
Log in

Cognitive automata and the law: electronic contracting and the intentionality of software agents

  • Published:
Artificial Intelligence and Law Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

I shall argue that software agents can be attributed cognitive states, since their behaviour can be best understood by adopting the intentional stance. These cognitive states are legally relevant when agents are delegated by their users to engage, without users’ review, in choices based on their the agents’ own knowledge. Consequently, both with regard to torts and to contracts, legal rules designed for humans can also be applied to software agents, even though the latter do not have rights and duties of their own. The implications of this approach in different areas of the law are then discussed, in particular with regard to contracts, torts, and personality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. When speaking on general terms of an “agent”, I shall refer to any entity capable of autonomous action in general, following the AI terminology. In the law, on the contrary, the term “agent” usually denotes someone who acts on behalf of another. Both meanings, however, are relevant, since I shall consider autonomously electronic entities acting on behalf of their users. For useful links to research projects and companies dealing with intelligent agents, see http://www.aima.cs.berkeley.edu/ai.htmlagent. For an approach to artificial intelligence based on the idea of an agent, see Russell and Norvig (2003). For roadmap on agent.-based technologies (though limited to year 2005) see Luck et al. (2005).

  2. The thesis that the law gives some relevance to cognitive states does not entail that such states are always decisive: the law often needs to take into account, besides the perspective of the author of the act, also the way in which the act is understood by the counterpart and by third parties, as well as various pragmatic constraints. For instance. the law of contracts gives some limited relevance to the cognitive states of the author of a contractual declaration (by requiring that the party should intentionally make such declaration, in the awareness of its effects, and by allowing the contract to be annulled when certain mistakes were made in coming to a determination or in expressing it) even though such relevance may be overridden by further considerations, such as protecting the reliance or the counterpart (who justifiably assumed that the contract was regularly formed), or reducing litigation and facilitating the work of the judges (which may suggest that only in exceptional circumstances judges should override the text of the contract and its conventional linguistic meaning). The latter view is often said to characterise the British tradition, see Devlin (1962).

  3. For a collection of some important contributions to the philosophy of mind, cf. Cummins and Dellarosa-Cummins (2000); for a basic introduction, cf. Davies (1998).

  4. See Peczenik (2006, 79), according to whom legal justification should be as much as possible “philosophically neutral” and jurists should “avoid commitment to strong philosophical theories and prefer weak philosophical theories.”

  5. I apologise for this trivialisation of the complex problem of evolution. For a “philosophical” introduction to Darwin’s ideas, see Dawkins (1989) and Dennett (1996).

  6. For example, Nozick (1993) introduces the notion of a function on the basis of the concept of an homeostatic system, which he characterises as follows: “[An homeostatic system] maintains the value of one of its state variables V within a certain range in a certain environment, so that when V is caused to deviate some distance (but not an arbitrary long distance) outside that range, the values of the other variables compensate for this, being modified so as to bring V back within the specified range.” As examples of homeostasis, consider how an increase of bodily temperature may lead to sweating, which lowers the temperature, or how an increase in the temperature of a house may start air conditioning, which goes on until the temperature has fallen to the established level. Nozick defines then the notion of a function as follows: “Z is a function of X, when Z is a consequence (effect, result, property) of X and X’s producing Z is itself the goal state of some homeostatic mechanism M ..., and X was produced or is maintained by this homeostatic mechanism M (through its pursuit of the goal: X’s producing X)”. According to this definition we may say, for example that the function of thermostats is that of keeping temperature within the specified range, since stabilising temperature is the result which is obtained through the process of designing and building thermostats, a process which tends to make so that thermostats are build which can stabilise temperature (thermostats designers constantly endeavour to improve the performance of the thermostats they design). In the same way, the function of lungs is that of absorbing oxygen, since this is the result produced and maintained by natural evolution, which tends to make so that lungs are able to absorb oxygen (through the survival, and therefore reproduction, of the individuals whose lungs can absorb oxygen).

  7. On idea that combinations of humans and artificial entities may represent a new kind of hybrid subjectivity see Teubner (2006), referring to Latour (2005).

  8. For interesting considerations on the attribution of agency and intentionality to artificial entities, an attribution which—contrary to the approach here taken—is based on communicative capacity rather than on purposive rationality, and more on socially shared presumptions than on the nature of the concerned entities, see Teubner (2006).

  9. On the legal aspects of contracts made by SAs, there is already a significant literature, see for instance Kerr (1999); Lerouge (2000); Bellia (2001); Weitzenboeck (2001); van Haentjens (2002); De Miglio et al. (2002); Weitzenboeck (2004); Wettig and Zehendner (2004); Kafeza et al. (2005); Barfield (2005); Andrade et al. (2007); Balke and Torsten (2008).

  10. UCITA has been very controversial (especially since it allows contracts to override consumer protection rules) and been adopted so far only by two States, while being rejected by the American Law Institute.

  11. Further significant legal issues concern the SAs’ use in virtual enterprises (cf. Cevenini 2002), in on-line dispute resolution (cf. Chiti and Peruginelli 2002; Gouimenou 2002), or in police investigations (Burkhard 2006; Abel 2009).

  12. The idea that relying on automated helpers may compromise human values is at the centre of the work of Isaac Asimov (see for instance, Asimov 1996). For an optimistic view concerning the impact of robots on human society, see Brooks (2002).

References

  • Abel W (2009) Agents, trojans and tags: the next generation of investigators. Int Rev Law Comput Technol 23:99–108

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Allen T, Widdison R (1996) Can computers make contracts. Harvard J Law Technol 9:25–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrade F, Novais P, Machado J, Neves J (2007) Intelligent contracting: software agents, corporate bodies and virtual organisations. In: Camarinha Matos L, Afsarmanesh H, Novais P, Analide C (eds) Establishing the foundations of collaborative networks. Springer

  • Artosi A (2002) On the notion of an empowered agent. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 123–131

  • Asimov I (1996) Foundation and earth, 1st edn. Harper-Collins, London (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  • Balke T, Torsten E (2008). The conclusion of contracts by software agents in the eyes of the law. In: Padgham L, Parkes DC, Müller J, Simon P (eds) Proceedings of 7th international joint conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems (AAMAS 2008), vol 2. IFAAMAS, pp 771–778

  • Barfield W (2005) Issues of law for software agents within virtual environments. Presence Teleoper Virtual Environ 14:741–748

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellia AJ (2001) Contracting with electronic agents. Emory Law J 50:1047–1092

    Google Scholar 

  • Bing J, Sartor G (2002) Lovely Rita: a scenario. Deliverable, ALFEBIITE (IST-1999-10298)

  • Bing J, Sartor G (eds) (2003) The law of electronic agents. Oslo, Unipubskriftserier

    Google Scholar 

  • Boella G, Damiano R (2002) A game-theoretic model of third-party agents for enforcing obligations in transactions. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 111–121

  • Boonk ML, Lodder AR (2006) Halt, who goes there? On agents and conditional access to websites. In: Proceedings of BILETA 2006, globalisation and harmonisation in technology law

  • Borking JJ, van Eck BMA, Siepel P (1999) Intelligent software agents and privacy. The Hague, Registratiekamer

    Google Scholar 

  • Borruso R (1988) Computer e diritto: Problemi giuridici dell’informatica, vol 2. Milano, Giuffrè

    Google Scholar 

  • Bratman M (1987) Intentions, plans and practical reasoning. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Brazier F, Kubbe O, Oskamp A, Wijngaards N (2002) Are law abinding agents realistic? In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 151–157

  • Brazier F, Oskamp A, Prins C, Schellekens M, Wijngaards N (2004) Anonymity and software agents: an interdisciplinary challenge. Artif Intell Law 12:137–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks RA (2002) Robot: the future of flesh and machines. Penguin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkhard S (2006) The taming of the sleuth-problems and potential of autonomous agents in crime investigation and prosecution. Int Rev Law Comput Technol 20:63–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bygrave LA (2001) Electronic agents and privacy: a cyberspace odyssey 2001. Int J Law Inf Technol 9:275–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castelfranchi C, Dignum F, Catholijn MJ, Treur J (1999) Deliberative normative agents: principles and architecture. In: Proceedings of ATAL 1999, pp 364–378

  • Castelfranchi C, Falcone R (2005) Socio-cognitive theory of trust. In: Pitt J (ed) Open agent societies: normative specifications in multi-agent systems. Wiley, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Cevenini C (2002) Agents in the virtual enterprise: some legal notes. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 59–64

  • Chiti G, Peruginelli G (2002) Artificial intelligence in alternative dispute resolution. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 97–104

  • Chopra S, White L (2004) Artificial agents—personhood in law and philosophy. In: Proceedings of ECAI 2004. Amsterdam, IOS

  • Cicu A (1901) Gli automi nel diritto privato. Il Filangeri 8:1–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Coase R (1960) The problem of social cost. J Law Econ 3:1–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins R, Dellarosa-Cummins D (eds) (2000) Minds, brains, and computers: the foundations of cognitive science. Blackwell, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies M (1998) The philosophy of mind. In: Graylin AC (ed) Philosophy 1: a guide through the subject. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 250–335

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis JR (1998) On self-enforcing contracts, the right to hack, and wilfully ignorant agents. Berkley Technol Law J 1148

  • Dawkins R (1989) The selfish gene, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • De Miglio F, Onida T, Romano F, Santoro S (2002) Electronic agents and the law of agency. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 23–32

  • Dennett DC (1989) The intentional stance. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett DC (1996) Darwin’s dangerous idea: evolution and the meanings of life, 1st edn. Penguin, London (1995)

  • Dennett DC (1997) Kinds of minds: towards an understanding of consciousness. Basic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett DC, Haugeland JC (1987) Intentionality. In: Gregory RL (ed) The Oxford companion to the mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 383–386

    Google Scholar 

  • Devlin P (1962) The principles of construction of charterparties, bills of lading and marine policies. In: Samples of lawmaking. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 52–66

  • Dretske F (1986) Misrepresentation. In: Bogdan RJ (ed) Belief: form, content and function. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 17–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Finocchiaro G (2002) The conclusion of the electronic contract through “software agents”: a false legal problem? Brief considerations. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 75–80

  • Gelati J, Rotolo A, Sartor G (2002) Normative autonomy and normative co-ordination: declarative power, representation, and mandate. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 133–150

  • Gouimenou J (2002) E-arbitration-t ©: an alternative dispute resolution for SMEs. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 105–110

  • Hegel GWF (1931) The phenomenology of mind. Allen and Unwin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Irti N (1998) Scambi senza accordo. Rivista trimestrale di diritto e procedura civile 347–364

  • Jones AJ (2002) On the concept of trust. Decis Support Syst 33:225–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kafeza I, Kafeza E, Chiu DKW (2005) Legal issues in agents for electronic contracting. Proceedings of the 38th Hawaii international conference on system

  • Kant I (1996) Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals. In: Gregor MJ (ed) Practical philosophy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 37–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Karnow C (1994) The encrypted self: fleshing out the rights of electronic personalities. John Marshall J Comp Inf Law 13:1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr IR (1999) Spirits in the material world: intelligent agents as intermediaries in electronic commerce. Dalhousie Law J 22:189–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr IR (2004) Bots, babes and the californication of commerce. Univ Ottawa Law Technol J 1:284–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurzweil R (1999) The age of spiritual machines. Orion, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour B (2005) Reassembling the social: an introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerouge JF (2000) The use of electronic agents questioned under contractual law: suggested solutions on a european and american level. John Marshall J Comput Inf Law 18 (2):430–500

    Google Scholar 

  • Lessig L (1999) Code and other laws of cyberspace. Basic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Licklider JCR (1960) Man-computer symbiosis. IRE transactions on human factors in electronics HFE-1 (March), 4–11

  • Luck M, McBurney P, Shehory O, Willmott S (2005) Agent technology: computing as interaction (a roadmap for agent based computing).AgentLink. (http://www.agentlink.org/roadmap/index.html)

  • Nozick R (1993) The nature of rationality. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Peczenik A (2006) Scientia juris. In: Treatise of legal philosophy and general jurisprudence, vol 2. Springer, Berlin

  • Pitt J, Mamdani A, Charlton P (2001) The open agent society and its enemies: a position statement and a programme of research. Telemat Inform 18(1):67–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossato A (2002) “Stop the bot!”: trespass to chattels in cyberspace. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 159–172

  • Russell SJ, Norvig P (2003) Artificial intelligence a modern approach, 2nd edn. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs

    Google Scholar 

  • Sartor G (2003) Gli agenti software e la disciplina giuridica degli strumenti cognitivi. Diritto dell’informazione e dell’informatica 27–59

  • Searle JR (1989) Consciousness, unconsciousness, intentionality. Philos Top 17:193–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle JR (1990) Consciousness, explanatory inversion and cognitive science. Behav Brain Sci 13:585–596

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle JR (1995) The construction of social reality. New York, Free

    Google Scholar 

  • Solum LB (1992) Legal personhood for artificial intelligence. North Carolina Law Rev 70:1231–1287

    Google Scholar 

  • Sunstein CR (2001) Republic com. Princeton, Princeton University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Taddei Elmi GC (1990) I diritti dell’intelligenza artificiale tra soggettività e valore: fantadiritto o jus condendum. In: Lombardi Vallauri L (ed) Il meritevole di tutela. Milano, Giuffrè, pp 685–711

    Google Scholar 

  • Teubner G (2006) Rights of non-humans? Electronic agents and animals as new actors in politics and law. J Law Soc 33:497–521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Haentjens O (2002) Shopping agents and their legal implications regarding Austrian law. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 81–96

  • Villecco A (2002) Agent technology and on-line data protection. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 53–58

  • Weitzenboeck E (2001) Electronic agents and the formation of contracts. Int J Law Inform Technol 9(3):204–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weitzenboeck E (2004) Good faith and fair dealing in contracts formed and performed by electronic agents. Artif Intell Law 12:81–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Wettig S, Zehendner E (2004) A legal analysis of human and electronic agents. Artif Intell Law 12:111–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yip A, Cunningham J (2002) Some issues on agent ownership. In: Proceedings of LEA 2002. Workshop on the law of electronic agents. Bologna, CIRSFID, pp 13–22

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanni Sartor.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sartor, G. Cognitive automata and the law: electronic contracting and the intentionality of software agents. Artif Intell Law 17, 253–290 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10506-009-9081-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10506-009-9081-0

Keywords

Navigation