Glossary Updates6 new terms added to the glossaries · October 11, 2026, 13:38 CEST
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Glossary · Overview

Legal personhood (AI)

Also known as: Electronic personhood, Electronic person, AI personhood

German: Rechtspersönlichkeit

Legal personhood is the capacity, assigned by law, to hold rights and duties; in AI regulation, the term names the debate whether AI systems could be given such a status and the laws and bills that grant or expressly deny it.

  • AI regulation
  • EU
  • USA

In one sentence

Legal personhood is the capacity to hold rights and duties. Why the EU AI Act gives AI systems none and how US state bills want to exclude it.

Example

Under the AI Act, the obligations for a chatbot lie with its provider and deployer; the chatbot itself has no rights or duties and cannot be sued.

Explained in context

Context cards connect this term with others to answer one question. Also in British English and German.

How it applies

  • Status by statute: A law that grants or denies legal personhood assigns a legal status. It does not settle whether a system has experiences or interests; that is an empirical and moral question (see moral patient).
  • Responsibility stays with people and organizations: Current AI laws address the actors around a system. Documentation should name who is responsible — provider, deployer, manufacturer — not the system.

Compared across the EU, the USA, Canada and China (as of October 11, 2026)

  • EU: In 2017 the European Parliament asked the Commission to consider, in the long run, a specific legal status (“electronic persons”) for the most sophisticated robots. It was not taken up in law. The AI Act assigns its obligations to providers, deployers and other operators and gives AI systems no legal status. The Product Liability Directive (EU) 2024/2853 treats software, including AI systems, as a product, so liability falls on economic operators.
  • USA: There is no federal rule. Several states have considered bills that would expressly exclude AI from legal personhood. In Missouri, SB 1012 (“AI Non-Sentience and Responsibility Act”, 2026 session) passed the state Senate and was not enacted. A bill is not law; check the status of each one.
  • Canada and China: Neither grants AI systems legal personhood. Their AI rules address the organizations that develop, provide or operate AI systems.

External references