Mitigating AI Risks through Tort Law

How should the law govern AI? Those concerned about existential risks often push either for bans or for regulations meant to ensure that AI is developed safely - but another approach is possible. In this episode, Gabriel Weil talks about his proposal to modify tort law to enable people to sue AI companies for disasters that are "nearly catastrophic".

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Topics we discuss, and timestamps:

0:00:35 - The basic idea

0:20:36 - Tort law vs regulation

0:29:10 - Weil's proposal vs Hanson's proposal

0:37:00 - Tort law vs Pigouvian taxation

0:41:16 - Does disagreement on AI risk make this proposal less effective?

0:49:53 - Warning shots - their prevalence and character

0:59:17 - Feasibility of big changes to liability law

1:29:17 - Interactions with other areas of law

1:38:59 - How Gabriel encountered the AI x-risk field

1:42:41 - AI x-risk and the legal field

1:47:44 - Technical research to help with this proposal

1:50:47 - Decisions this proposal could influence

1:55:34 - Following Gabriel's research

The transcript: axrp.net/episode/2024/04/17/episode-28-tort-law-for-ai-risk-gabriel-weil.html

Links for Gabriel:

 - SSRN page: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1648032

 - Twitter/X account: twitter.com/gabriel_weil

Tort Law as a Tool for Mitigating Catastrophic Risk from Artificial Intelligence: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4694006

Other links:

 - Foom liability: overcomingbias.com/p/foom-liability

 - Punitive Damages: An Economic Analysis: law.harvard.edu/faculty/shavell/pdf/111_Harvard_Law_Rev_869.pdf

 - Efficiency, Fairness, and the Externalization of Reasonable Risks: The Problem With the Learned Hand Formula: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4466197

 - Tort Law Can Play an Important Role in Mitigating AI Risk: forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/epKBmiyLpZWWFEYDb/tort-law-can-play-an-important-role-in-mitigating-ai-risk

 - How Technical AI Safety Researchers Can Help Implement Punitive Damages to Mitigate Catastrophic AI Risk: forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yWKaBdBygecE42hFZ/how-technical-ai-safety-researchers-can-help-implement

 - Can the courts save us from dangerous AI? [Vox]: vox.com/future-perfect/2024/2/7/24062374/ai-openai-anthropic-deepmind-legal-liability-gabriel-weil

Episode art by Hamish Doodles: hamishdoodles.com