[ExI] AI can't invent (Legally!)

[Alex Blainey]

I tend to agree. In virtually every other domain automation and tech is accepted. we dont say that sculptors are not artists because they use power tools, or engineers are less worthy because they use CNCs.
Personally Ive been promoting the idea that we accredit the work produced and have some kind of banding system relating to level of AI collaboration. I proposed it the vice provost at MIT along with a paper about AI use relating to academia and disability.

I don't know why the human who ises a tool to discover something wouldn't get the credit for the discovery. Of you look through a microscope and discover a new bacterium, you credit the scientist and not the microscope or even the microscope company.


On Tuesday, 25 August 2026 at 20:13:15 BST, ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

I don't know why the human who ises a tool to discover something wouldn't get the credit for the discovery. Of you look through a microscope and discover a new bacterium, you credit the scientist and not the microscope or even the microscope company. 

> On Aug 25, 2026, at 11:35, BillK via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 25 Aug 2026 at 18:19, Alex Blainey via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>> The whole issue of AI, personhood, IP and liability is sticky and something Ive been wrestling with recently.
>> Legal wrappers and incorporation can get around a lot of it and incorporation especially as it demonstrates how a non living entity (a company) can be given rights and legal status.
>> It can be obfuscated by using holding and shell companies.
>> I actually explored this idea for bootstrapping income for my Concord project. A fully automated AI run company creating digital products/services, which was itself subsidiary of a holding company.
>> On the face of it totally legal and no one would know unless face to face was needed for meetings/signatures.
>> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> The courts are still wrestling with this problem.
> It will get more complicated as AIs become more independent, even self-aware.
> The other thread goes into this in more detail.
> But at present, when an AI misbehaves, the courts need someone to
> blame. Either the AI developers or the user who set the AI off.
> 
> BillK
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