Autonomous Systems and Tort Law

At the present stage of their development, as the European Law Institute pointed out, algorithms have five main characteristics: complexity, increasing autonomy, opacity, openness and vulnerability. Being able to learn through cumulative experience and to take independent decisions and standing as true ecosystems of connected elements, the autonomous systems pose a challenge for the classic tort law remedies. Thus, if damage or harm caused by an autonomous system occurs, who can be liable? In this paper, after showing the difficulties of the classic remedies, we will consider some possible solutions for this problem, examining three separate solutions: the establishment of a fund for the compensation of AI harm; the direct liability of the autonomous systems; and the establishment of a new hypothesis of strict liability.