1 - The Challenges of Human–Robot Interaction for Substantive Criminal Law

Summary

This introduction lays out various aspects concerning robots' entanglement with substantive law, including an all-round view of the criminal liability of humans for robots, the criminal responsibility of robots themselves, self-defense against robots, and robots as victims of crime. While Janneke de Snaijer and Marta Bo in their chapter discuss specific aspects of criminal liability and exemptions therefrom, Thomas Weigend analyzes the looming “responsibility gap” and the option of expanding the idea of corporate criminal responsibility to cover harm caused by AI devices. This is one aspect of a preventive, repressive, and long-term perspective on how criminal law can shape human–robot interaction, but also possibly an example of how the wish to regulate robots could affect criminal law itself.