Artificial Intelligence as a New Challenge for Software Law

GALAJDOVÁ, Dominika. Artificial Intelligence as a New Challenge for Software Law. European Journal of Law and Technology. 2019, Vol. 10, Issue 1.

Basic information

• Original name: Artificial Intelligence as a New Challenge for Software Law
• Authors: GALAJDOVÁ, Dominika.
• Edition: European Journal of Law and Technology, 2019.

Other information

• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Keywords in English: artificial intelligence; software development; copyright protection; preparatory design material
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Artfcial intelligence (here-afer "AI") has atracted a great deal of atenton in the last year. AI is not a new concept or discovery as itself, however, recent progress in this feld has been remarkable. Especially, advances in machine learning technology have been notced by experts as well as by non-professionals. The impact of AI is discussed not just in the felds of technology and science but also in the feld of law. The queston of regulaton of AI by law has been raised in regards to many legal issues, i.e. legal personhood, civil liability, intellectual property, etc. Obviously, the usage of AI varies in diferent felds with its specifc implicaton for existng legal framework. AI and its nature resemble the well-known feld of sofware engineering and sofware as itself. Furthermore, AI technology requires the implementaton of sofware to be functonal. Due to this, elements of AI can be copyrighted or patented as sofware based on its nature. The queston is whether these two technologies are the same, or similar enough, so that potental legal regulaton of AI can be based on existng sofware law Moreover, AI has been used for the purpose of sofware design, which makes the relatonship between sofware and AI even closer. In the case of sofware design by AI, the consideraton whether there might be an "artfcial" sofware developer is even more interestng. The questons of allocaton of authorship and copyright protecton of sofware developed by AI are one of many legal implicatons of AI on sofware law. This artcle aims to provide an analysis of AI and sofware based on the state of art of these technologies and open up discussion on the implicatons of sofware developed by AI. Therefore, this artcle is divided into 3 parts with the frst part considering existng copyright protecton of sofware with an emphasis on European legislaton. The second part provides a descripton of the current state of art in the feld of AI, in partcular on AI sofware development. The fnal part analyses the clash of copyright and AI with an emphasis on the protecton of sofware developed by AI.