SCHOOL OF LAW

COURSE SYLLABUS

Course Title: Robots, Artificial Instructors:

Intelligence, and the Law
No. of Units: 2 Mickey Ingles
Semester/ SY: AY 2017-2018/1st Sem Friday, 12-2 PM
Department/Track:
Pre-requisites: None

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

Course Description

This course introduces students to legal problems and emerging issues in the field of robots
and artificial intelligence (AI). With robots and AI becoming more and more present and
prevalent in our daily lives, we have to come to terms with how our laws will deal with them.

This course will examine how our legal framework will change (if it will or should at all) with
the introduction of robots and AI. It will pose questions such as:
 Should our laws change when robots come knocking at our door? Or are our laws
robust and flexible enough to simply accommodate them?
 If a robot kills its owner, who (or what) is liable?
 Are robots considered people in the eyes of the Constitution? Should we consider them
as such?

The future of robots and AI is today. It’s time to ask these questions now.

Learning Outcomes

In line with the Jesuit-inspired philosophy to see “God in all things,” the course aims to teach
students to see the law in all things, specifically in robots and artificial intelligence. The course
also aims to teach students to use their imagination in “predicting the future” and to sharpen
their reasoning and argumentative skills.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

 Demonstrate a working knowledge of substantive laws that may affect the rise of robots
and AI;
 Identify emerging legal issues brought about by robots and AI;
 Do independent research on a robots/AI topic and write a legal paper on it.
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Methodology
Students are expected to come to class fully prepared with the assigned readings.

The class will rely heavily on student participation in the form of round-table discussions,
where I will sit as a moderator to facilitate class discussions. I give a high premium to student
participation and will value well-rounded opinions on the assigned topics and readings. The
class will be a safe space for everyone to participate. All opinions are valid, except those that
come from wrong facts.

To facilitate discussions, we will adopt a closed laptop policy—which is counterintuitive to a

technology law class, but admit it, we all get distracted by shiny objects.

Given the methodology, the class size will be limited to 20 students only.

Acknowledgement

This course would not have been possible at all without the help, the guidance, and the vision
of Prof. Ed Walters of the Georgetown University Law Center. Some of the readings assigned
below are from his Law of Robots class at the GULC.

II. COURSE OUTLINE

Week/Session Topic
Week 1 A. Introduction
(August 11,
2017) Thomas Friedman, Thank You For Being Late, Chapter on Moore’s Law (pp. 37-
69 only) (2016)

James Walker, Researchers Shut Down AI That Invented Its Own Language, July
21, 2017, Digital Journal

Jordan Novet, Facebook AI Researcher Slams “Irresponsible” Reports About

Smart Bot Experiment, August 1, 2017, CNBC

Tim Urban, The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence, January 22, 2015,
Wait But Why

Week 2 B. Where Do We Begin?

(August 18,
2017) Roger Bickerstaff, Do We Need Robot Law?, February 14, 2017,
Digitalbusiness.law

Larry Lessig, The Law of the Horse: What Cyberlaw Might Teach (Section I only),
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 113 Harv. L. Rev. 501 (1999)

Neil Richards and William Smart, How Should the Law Think About Robots?
(Sections 3-7 only)

Futurism.com, The Laws of Robotics Infographic

Week 3 C. Are Robots Really Different?

(August 25,
2017) Ryan Calo, Robotics and the New Cyberlaw, 103 California Law Review 3 513
(2015)

Week 4 D. Finding the Proper Analogy for Liability

(September 1,
2017) Ugo Pagallo, Killers, fridges, and slaves: a legal journey in robotics (6 pages)

Pat Hubbard, Regulation of and Liability for Risks of Physical Injury from
“Sophisticated Robots” (forthcoming, Fla. L. Rev. 2015)

Nathan Heller, If Animals Have Rights, Should Robots? The New Yorker,
November 28, 2016

Week 5 -FREE CUT-

(September 8,
2017)

Week 6 -FREE CUT-

(September
15, 2017)

Week 7 E. Demand Letter for Robots?

(September
22, 2017) Civil Code Provisions on Torts

Pat Hubbard, Regulation of and Liability for Risks of Physical Injury from
“Sophisticated Robots” (forthcoming, Fla. L. Rev. 2015) (Sections III and IV only)

Bryant Walker Smith, The Reasonable Self-Driving Car, Stanford CIS, Oct. 3,
2013

Jack Stewart, Self-Driving Cars Won’t Just Watch the World, They’ll Watch You,
Wired.com, February 13, 2017

Alex Davies, Congress Could Make Self-Driving Cars Happen—Or Ruin

Everything, Wired.com, February 15, 2017
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 Gemma Conroy, Self-Driving Cars Could Make Moral Decisions Like Humans
With A Simple Algorithm, Science Alert, July 6, 2017

Self-Driving Car Regulations

District of Columbia, Automated Vehicle Act of 2012
Cal. Veh. Code Sec. 38750
Nevada Assembly Bill 511 (2012)
Florida House Bill 1207 (Ch. 2012-111)

Week 8 F. You’re Going to Robot Jail, You… Robot!

(September
29, 2017) Philippine Revised Penal Code Theories of Criminal Liability

Gabriel Hallevy – I, Robot – I, Criminal – When Science Fiction Becomes Reality:

Legal Liability of AI Robots Committing Criminal Offenses, 22 Syracuse Science
& Tech. Law Reporter 1 (Spring 2010) (pages 7-37)

Week 9
(October 6, DEADLINE for FINAL PAPER TOPICS: October 6, 2017
2017 -
Midterms)
Week 10 G. Respect Mah Rights, Robot Dude!
(October 13,
2017) The Right to Privacy in Philippine Laws (Vivares v. STC), Data Privacy Act of
2012, Writ of Habeas Data

Ryan Calo, The Drone as Privacy Catalyst, 64 Stanford Law Review Online 29
(Dec. 12, 2011)

Ryan Calo, Robots and Privacy, in Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social
Implications of Robotics (MIT Press 2011) (15 pages)

Betsy Lillian, Another Drone Bill Seeks Local Control of Unmanned Aircraft,
Unmanned Aerial, June 19, 2017

Margot Kaminski, Drone Privacy is About Much More Than Sunbathing Teenage
Daughters, Slate.Com, May 2016

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 Week 11 H. Wait A Minute… Did My Robot Just Get Me Fired?
(October 20,
2017) Basic Principles of the Labor Code

Aaron Smith and Janna Anderson, AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs, Pew
Research Internet Project

Littler Report, The Transformation of the Workplace Through Robotics, AI, and
Automation, February 2014 (Pages 3-8 only)

Claire Cain Miller, Will You Lose Your Job to a Robot? Silicon Valley is Split,
New York Times, Aug. 6, 2014

Nicole Bogart, Elon Musk Says Universal Basic Income Tax Will Be Necessary As
Robots Take Your Jobs, February 15, 2017

The White House Report, AI, Automation, and the Economy, December 2016
(Pages 1-4, 26-34 only)

I. Taxing Robots

Littler Report, The Transformation of the Workplace Through Robotics, AI, and
Automation, February 2014 (Pages 48-54 only)

Bill Gates Calls for Income Tax on Robots, Financial Times, February 20, 2017

Izabella Kaminska, The Misguided Logic of a Robot Income Tax, Financial Times,
February 22, 2017

Lawrence Summers, Robots Are Wealth Creators and Taxing Them Is Illogical,
Financial Times, March 4, 2017

Cara McGoogan, South Korea Introduces World’s First ‘Robot Tax’, The
Telegraph, August 7, 2017

Week 12 J. My Robot Wrote My Thesis—Who Owns It?

(October 27,
2017) Basic Principles from the IP Code

Pamela Samuelson, Allocating Ownership Rights in Computer-Generated Works,

47 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 1185 (1985) (45 pages)

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 K. Robotic Warfare... It’s Real and We’re All Going to Die

Ian Kerr, Katie Szilagyi, Asleep at the Switch? How Lethal Autonomous Robots
Become a Force Multiplier of Military Necessity (Draft) (39 pages)

Daniel Suarez, The Kill Decision Should Not Belong to a Robot (TED Talk, June
13, 2013 – 13:20)

US Department of Defense Directive 3009.09 – Autonomy in Weapon Systems,

November 21, 2012

James Dao, Drone Pilots Are Found to Get Stress Disorders Much As Those In
Combat Do, New York Times, February 22, 2013

Week 13 L. I’m Going To Sue You… With My Robot Lawyer!

(November 3,
2017) Jason Millar & Ian Kerr, “Delegation, Relinquishment and Responsibility: The
Prospect of Expert Robots (23 pages)

What will the lawyers do now? Dancing With Robots, The Second Machine Age,
and The Hammer Songs, Neota Logic Blog, March 3, 2014

Tom Meltzer, Robot doctors, online lawyers and automated architects: the future
of the professions?, The Guardian, June 15, 2014

Chris Weller, Law Firms of the Future Will Be Filled With Robot Lawyers,
Busines Insider, July 7, 2016

Jason Tashea, Courts Are Using AI To Sentence Criminals. That Must Stop Now,
Wired.Com, April 17, 2017
Week 14 M. So… What Are They? Are They People?
(November
10, 2017) Civil Code, Articles 37-47

Larry Solum, Legal Personhood for Artificial Intelligences, 70 N.C. Law Rev. 1231
(1992) (Sec. II and IV only) (35 pages)

Nina Totenberg, When Did Companies Become People? Excavating the Legal
Evolution, NPR, July 28, 2014

John Frank Weaver, Robots are People Too, Slate, July 2014

Week 15 N. Where Do We Go From Here?

(November
17, 2017) Mickey Ingles, Regulating Religious Robots: Free Exercise and RFRA in the Time
of Superintelligent Artificial Intelligence, 105 Georgetown Law Journal 2017

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 Grant Wilson, Minimizing Global Catastrophic and Existential Risks from
Emerging Technologies Through International Law, Virginia Environmental Law
Journal 2013

Week 16 Paper Topic Workshop

(November
24, 2017)
Week 17 Work on Final Papers.
(December 1,
2017)

The professor reserves the option of scheduling make-up classes and amending the topics, the
reading list, and assignments as exigencies warrant.

III. REFERENCES AND MATERIALS

Please see case list and readings above.

IV. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING SYSTEM

Course Requirements Grade Breakdown

Class Participation and Attendance 50%

Final Paper (topic to be approved by 50%

the professor)

Final Paper Requirements:

Minimum: 7,000 words (without citations)
Deadline: 5 PM, December 20, 2017
Every hour past the deadline will merit a 5-point deduction from the final paper grade of the
student. A fraction of an hour counts as an hour.

V. COURSE POLICIES
Attendance and punctuality are a must. Deadlines will likewise be strictly followed.

For other policies, please see the Rules and Regulations on attendance, dress code, discipline,
J.D. scholastic responsibility, and plagiarism, in the ALS Catalogue. In addition, all written

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paper requirements should first pass through the plagiarism checker, available at the APS
library, prior to submission.

VI.CONTACT AND OTHER INFORMATION

E-mail: inglesmickey@gmail.com
For consultation, e-mail me to set an appointment.