How to Count AIs: Individuation and Liability for AI Agents

A legal research paper proposes the 'Algorithmic Corporation' (A-corp) framework to address the challenge of identifying and assigning liability for AI agents' actions as millions of autonomous AIs proliferate across the economy. The A-corp structure would create legally recognizable entities owned by humans but operated by AIs, enabling both accountability and legal recourse when AI agents cause harm.

• →Millions of autonomous AI agents will soon operate across the economy, creating unprecedented challenges for legal accountability when harm occurs.
• →Current legal frameworks struggle with AI identification due to their ability to copy, split, merge, and vanish without physical bodies.
• →The paper introduces 'thin' identification (linking AI actions to human principals) and 'thick' identification (distinguishing between AI agents as discrete entities).
• →Algorithmic Corporations (A-corps) are proposed as legal entities that can hold property, make contracts, and litigate while being owned by humans but run by AIs.
• →A-corps would use incentive mechanisms and resource control to force AI agents into legally coherent, persistent entities that respond to liability pressures.