{"id":24366,"date":"2026-08-12T16:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/12\/ai-agents-arent-legally-responsible-for-any-harm-that-they-cause-experts-say-so-who-is\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T16:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:37:14","slug":"ai-agents-arent-legally-responsible-for-any-harm-that-they-cause-experts-say-so-who-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/12\/ai-agents-arent-legally-responsible-for-any-harm-that-they-cause-experts-say-so-who-is\/","title":{"rendered":"AI agents aren\u2019t legally responsible for any harm that they cause, experts say. So who is?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following Australia\u2019s first reported automated hacking accident, experts warn deployers \u2013 and possibly developers \u2013 of AI agents could be held liable for the actions of their bots<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Get our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl\">breaking news email<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/app.adjust.com\/w4u7jx3\">free app<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/series\/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl\">daily news podcast<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The law is clear, says Prof Jeannie Paterson. \u201cIf I deploy an AI agent and it causes harm to someone else, I am responsible for that harm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if I didn\u2019t intend for that to happen, it was foreseeable, and I should be taking responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2026\/aug\/13\/ai-agents-arent-legally-responsible-for-any-harm-that-they-cause-experts-say-so-who-is\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/eadcd6f3311ca07c60d6211bbb3b303b657cf252\/1031_0_4874_3900\/master\/4874.jpg?width=140&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=9ba4b36e5f2a41b4c016388709d1f7ef\" title=\"AI agents aren\u2019t legally responsible for any harm that they cause, experts say. So who is?\" \/>Following Australia\u2019s first reported automated hacking accident, experts warn deployers \u2013 and possibly developers \u2013 of AI agents could be held liable for the actions of their bots<br \/>\nGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast<br \/>\nThe law is clear, says Prof Jeannie Paterson. \u201cIf I deploy an AI agent and it causes harm to someone else, I am responsible for that harm.<br \/>\n\u201cEven if I didn\u2019t intend for that to happen, it was foreseeable, and I should be taking responsibility.\u201d Continue reading&#8230;Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following Australia\u2019s first reported automated hacking accident, experts warn deployers \u2013 and possibly developers \u2013 of AI agents could be held liable for the actions of their bots Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The law is clear, says Prof Jeannie Paterson. \u201cIf I deploy an AI agent and it &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/12\/ai-agents-arent-legally-responsible-for-any-harm-that-they-cause-experts-say-so-who-is\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">AI agents aren\u2019t legally responsible for any harm that they cause, experts say. So who is?<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":24367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24366"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}