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"No human at the helm": Delaware plan would let AI agents run businesses

arstechnica.com6 points1 comments
Screenshot of "No human at the helm": Delaware plan would let AI agents run businesses

Delaware is developing a legal structure that would let AI agents manage companies without a human at the helm. A draft bill would create “Artificial Intelligence Companies” able to conduct nearly any lawful business except banking: agents could make transactions, sign contracts, manage property, and sue or be sued. A proposed 30-month regulatory sandbox would test the model under state supervision before lawmakers decide whether to establish it permanently. Supporters argue that giving autonomous systems a formal corporate identity would make their conduct traceable and provide a legal entity against which claims and damages could be pursued.

The plan’s central dispute is whether that structure would make AI activity accountable or instead shield its human backers. A company’s member would provide capital and receive profits, but generally would not be liable for the AI-run firm’s actions; exceptions include fraud, deliberate lawbreaking, inadequate capitalization, and knowingly allowing business outside the company’s stated purpose. House Oversight chair James Comer has asked Delaware Governor Matt Meyer for records, warning that the proposal could protect investors from harms caused by reckless AI and invite regulatory capture. Delaware officials have promoted the sandbox as a supervised experiment and a source of fees and business growth, while legal scholars have questioned the breadth of the liability shield and warned that states could compete to offer companies the most permissive rules. The effort involves AI firm Norm Ai and is being developed in a state where roughly two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated.

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