The ‘Comparative Law Study on Civil Liability for Artificial Intelligence’, initiated by the European Commission, analyses how damage caused by artificial intelligence (AI) systems is allocated by the rules of tortious liability currently in force in the EU, and whether – and if so to what extent – national tort law regimes differ in that respect. It also examines possible gaps in the protection of the injured parties. The study assesses solutions expected on the basis of current European tort laws after weighing up conflicting interests, and goes on to identify questions in respect of which the interpretation of the liability rules in force appears uncertain as well as potential inconsistencies in said solutions. It focuses on the key aspects of selected, most significant problem constellations and uses illustrative examples from selected European legal systems representing different legal families. The study was conducted by ETL in cooperation with ECTIL and was led by Ernst Karner (ETL, ECTIL and Vienna University) and Bernhard A Koch (Innsbruck University).
Having regard to the pre-eminent position of the US in the field of AI technologies, a second part of the study focuses on the legal regimes in the US. This latter part of the study was conducted by Mark Geistfeld (NYU).