When AI Becomes You: Navigating the Legal and Ethical Shifts of Empersonification
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9-1Arthur: We're entering this strange new world where technology isn't just something we hold in our hands, it's becoming part of our bodies and even our minds. It raises a fascinating question: What happens when a device, say a brain-computer interface, becomes so integrated with you that it's no longer just a thing?
Mia: Right, it's a question that pushes right at the boundaries of what it means to be a person. There's this concept from a paper in AI & SOCIETY by Jan Christoph Bublitz called empersonification. The core idea is that these advanced AI devices could literally become extensions of our minds and bodies, legally and ethically considered part of us.
Arthur: So, not just a tool I'm using, but a part of me, like my own arm or a thought. That sounds like a huge leap. What are the actual consequences if the law starts seeing things that way? The paper mentions three big shifts. The first is that the device itself stops being a separate legal object.
Mia: Exactly. It gets the special legal protection we give to persons. So, think about it this way: if someone intentionally damages your empersonified AI implant, it might not be treated as simple property damage anymore. It could be seen as a form of assault or bodily harm. That completely changes the stakes.
Arthur: That makes sense. But the second point is the one that really feels disruptive. It suggests that the manufacturers, the companies that build these things, would lose their intellectual property rights over the device and its software. You mean if I get a neural implant, I could, in theory, own the code that runs it?
Mia: Well, that's the logical conclusion, isn't it? Persons can't be owned. So if the device becomes a part of the person, it can't be owned by a third party like a corporation. Your end-user license agreement would essentially become void because it's trying to assert ownership over a part of you. This is a massive challenge to the entire tech business model.
Arthur: It really is. It touches on the very definition of ownership and personal freedom. Okay, so that brings us to the third, and maybe the most controversial, consequence: responsibility. If this AI device is part of me, am I responsible for what it does?
Mia: The paper argues yes, you are. You'd be responsible for the outputs of your empersonified AI to the same degree that you're responsible for, say, an intention or a desire that bubbles up from your own unconscious.
Arthur: I see. So if my AI-enhanced memory suggests a course of action that turns out to be harmful, I can't just say, the AI made me do it. It's my action. That feels a bit... unnerving.
Mia: It is, but the argument is that once the line between your mind and the machine blurs, you can't really separate their outputs. From a legal standpoint, it's more practical to hold the person—the integrated unit—responsible. The law needs a single, accountable agent. Otherwise, you'd have this impossible task of trying to figure out where your thought ended and the AI's suggestion began.
Arthur: That's a really deep point. It forces us to redefine what we even mean by our own thoughts and actions. So to wrap this up, what are the absolute key takeaways we should be thinking about?
Mia: I think there are a few big ones. First, this idea of empersonification is coming, where AI, especially neurotech, becomes part of the person. Second, this triggers a fundamental legal shift: the device is no longer property, it's part of a person and gets those protections. This leads to the third point, which is that manufacturers could lose their IP rights to this tech. And finally, the individual becomes responsible for the device's output, just as they are for their own thoughts. It's an incredibly complex new frontier, and we're going to need to think very carefully about how we draw these new lines.