Publication Date

2024

Abstract

Today's artificial intelligence ("AI'') systems exhibit increasing capabilities across a remarkable variety of tasks. The rapid growth in AI ability has caught the attention of policymakers, parliaments, and the United Nations. These entities are increasingly looking towards regulating AI, not only in its particular applications, but as a technology. Yet legal scholarship has thus far offered little to this new and critical regulatory conversation, which has instead been dominated by computer scientists and technologists.

This Article begins the project of assessing AI 's broader risks and law 's role in addressing them. These risks are wide ranging-they span harms to vulnerable communities, threats to economic, political, and physical security, and, in a worst-case scenario, even existential risk. The Article integrates a variety of emerging literatures to create a comprehensive account of the society-wide risks of AI, from present to future. It is also among the first works of legal scholarship to address the AI alignment problem and the global risks of failing to ensure that Ais are aligned with broad social interests.

Drawing on this taxonomy of risks, the Article provides a theoretical foundation for the systemic regulation of AI It addresses current debates about which AI risks to recognize and which deserve regulatory attention. It then considers the potential costs, benefits, and uncertainties of AI technology, concluding that they counsel a precautionary approach that regulates AI as a technology rather than focusing on its downstream applications.

Our final contribution involves outlining important principles for AI regulation. These principles map out a program of cohesive regulation, incorporating ex-ante oversight and employing a diverse set of regulatory approaches, including legislative and litigation-based strategies. We conclude by providing options for international regulation, drawing on prior examples from international law, and demonstrating that effective international collaboration around emerging technologies is feasible and important.

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